Jessica Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
by wildwriter97
Summary: What if Harry had a twin sister named Jessica who also survived You-Know-Who's attack at Godrics Hollow? A re-write of the first book from Jessica's POV.
1. The Girl Who Lived

**Jessica Potter & the Philosopher's Stone**

**Hey Everyone! This is my 1****st**** fanfic, I'll update it every weekend, and maybe during the week if I don't have too much homework!**

**Chapter 1**

**The Girl who Lived **

Remus Lupin liked to think he finally had his life in order. He was completely used to his full moon wanderings; he had his great friends, and Harry and Jessica, James and Lily's twin one year olds.

Remus had a part-time job at a muggle firm, which published books. He was a tall shabby man, with thin, light brown hair, and warm kind eyes. He lived in a small, bare flat in the centre of London, but he'd much rather move to the country so he could run around once a month. He'd even started up a small jar with a few bronze knuts, one to two silver sickles, and even a little muggle money.

He had all he needed, but he also had a secret, and his greatest fear was that somebody would discover it, muggle or magical. He couldn't bear being exiled again if anyone found out he has not only a wizard, but a werewolf. The only people who knew were his closest friends, Albus Dumbledore, and a man he very much disliked, Severus Snape.

When he woke up one dull grey Tuesday, he was bombarded by owls from every person he had ever met.

_Its over!_

_You-Know-Who has been defeated!_

_Hagrid._

Another,

_Friends, _

_Finally the end!_

_Come rejoice at a party tonight at 8:00!_

_Dedalus Diggle._

And Another,

_The long suffering is over,_

_He has gone, _

_Death Eaters will glower, _

_And we'll party on!_

_Ted Tonks._

Remus smiled, James and Lily could finally bring their family out of hiding, and he could watch the twins grow up. He quickly wrote notes to Sirius, Peter, Lily & James, and sent them off with his owl. After quickly dressing, went out to confirm the rumours. Everywhere he went, there were small gatherings of wizards, grouped on street corners, in cafes, and even in the shops. Remus couldn't help but notice how careless they were being, they weren't wearing muggle clothing. He overheard an old wizard in a violet cloak, who had just walked into a rather large muggle man say, "Don't be sorry dear sir, for nothing could upset me today! Rejoice, for You-Know-Who is gone at last! Even muggles like yourself should be celebrating, this happy, happy day" he then hugged the large man and walked away. Remus couldn't believe what he had just heard; this wizard had almost revealed the whole wizard world to this man.

At 8:00, Remus went to Dedalus Diggle's home. Not because he not because he particularly liked him, but he needed to know if it was true, as he still hadn't heard from either James and Lily, nor Sirius. It was also the only invitation had had gotten. "I suppose it true then, Voldemort's really gone?" He asked as he greeted Dedalus who flinched at the name. "Yes. Now we must rejoice, for we will lose no more friends. And the war has been won." Remus sighed with relief. He could now enjoy his afternoon. "You know what stopped him?" asked a short stout wizard standing nearby.

"You know what finally killed him?" Remus shook his head.

"It was that Potter boy."

"James? Wow I really must congratulate him-"

"You-Know-Who went to kill the twins. No one knows why, but he couldn't kill those children, and then, he just, died." Remus stared, wide eyed. He had to ask James what had happened, but did he want to know the answer? Meanwhile, the man continued.

"Yes, a pity only Harry made it, but it's a small price to pay..." Remus snapped back to reality.

"What was that?" He asked with horror.

"Rumours are, James, Lily and their little girl, are dead."

Two minutes later, Remus was standing back in his own house. His heart had been ripped apart, but he pieced it back together by telling himself it was only a rumour. Lily and James couldn't be dead, Sirius was their secret keeper. Sirius was such a loyal friend, he would never betray them. Remus supposed this was just like the time when there were rumours that he and Sirius had been killed. Lily and James were devastated, until they turned up on their front doorstep and all four of them laughed the night away. Lily and James had to turn up soon to celebrate. Remus just had to wait.

Hours later, Remus was overjoyed when he heard someone knocking on the door, but it wasn't Lily and James like he'd hoped. It was Sirius. "Padfoot! Come in, settle down." Sirius obeyed, but Remus thought there was something weird going on with him "What are you looking glum about? Did you get my owl? He's gone! Gone!" asked Remus quickly,

"Yes I must have passed a dozen parties on my way here" replied Sirius glumly.

"What? Surely you flew here on your bike?"

"No, lent it to Hagrid." Sirius' voice was barely more than a whisper.

"What? You love that bike! Is that why you're so down in the dumps?" Remus asked. Sirius was being pathetic, being gloomy over such a trivial possession, they should be rejoicing, celebrating Voldemort's death.

After getting a glass of Firewhisky each, Remus made a toast, "To the defeat of Voldemort!" he gulped back his glass then looked back to Sirius who hadn't touched his Firewhiskey. "Listen, you've got to get over this bike, Hagrid'll return it. You'll have it back by-"

"It's not my bike Remus!" Sirius yelled, as if he had just snapped, and he continued to yell

"Have you heard the rumours about poor James, Lily and little Jessica?"

"What? I thought they were just rumours, like our 'supposed' deaths!" They were both yelling now

"No Remus, they're true" This part was quiet, as if Sirius didn't want to say the words,

"All true, I saw their bodies, he, killed them." Remus stared in shock.

"No. It can't be, Poor little Jessica, she was only one... Wait, you were the secret keeper; you sold them to Voldemort, didn't you? How can you betray your friends like that Sirius!" Remus was livid that Sirius, whom he had considered to be one of his best friends, had done such a thing.

"Moony, you know I wouldn't, but I suppose I did as good as give them to Voldemort"

"Don't call me Moony, only a marauder can call me that, and you are no longer a marauder, a true marauder would have died rather than betray his friends!"

"I did no such thing, Remus, I was not the spy, I thought it was you. I didn't want to tell the spy our last minute change..."

"And what might that be Sirius?" inquired Remus

"Peter was the secret keeper, he betrayed them. Now I'm going to go take my revenge." Sirius growled, his voice seething with anger, Remus however burst with laughter "Peter? Oh Sirius, now I know you're lying! Peter, the spy for Voldemort? You've gone mad with guilt, Padfoot my friend, but please don't take it out on poor Peter."

"If you don't believe me, I'll go it alone. But take care of one thing first." Sirius addressed the bundle he had been holding, which Remus had only just noticed "Everyone's been saying that only Harry survived this attack, but here is living proof that this is a lie," Sirius carefully unwrapped the bundle a little, to reveal a small sleeping child. Remus gasped "Is that Jessica?" she had short red hair, a pale complexion, and a small cut on her cheek that was bleeding. Sirius turned her gently over, showing a scar shaped like a lightning bolt on the back of her neck. "So that's where..." Began Remus

"Yes. She'll have that scar forever. I believe Harry has a matching one on his forehead."

Remus stared at the scar until he was interrupted by Sirius. "Look after her until I get back. I'm going after Peter. If I don't return, she's yours."

"Good I would hate for her to be raised by a sick Death Eater." Sirius looked at his friend with a pained expression, "Believe what you wish Moony, but one day, you will see the truth." Sirius turned to leave. "Wait, where's Harry?" Remus asked

"Don't know, Dumbledore had him moved to some safe place" And with that, he left.


	2. The Vanishing Glass

**Alright! Second chapter**

****DISCLAIMER** I don't own Harry Potter, any of the characters, locations, etc. However I do own Jessica as I made her up.**

**Jessica Potter and the Philosopher's Stone**

**Chapter 2**

**The Vanishing Glass**

Nearly ten years had passed since Remus had found the traitor Sirius Black on his doorstep, but so much had changed since then. First of he had moved back in with his parents, so that during the full moon, they could look after Jessica. On the mantelpiece, where ten years ago had stood many photos of a younger Remus, there now stood many pictures of a small girl, waving and smiling from within the frames.

The girl, whose name was Jessica, was asleep at the moment, but not for long, her grandmother was awake and it was her kind voice which made the first noise of the day.

"Jesse, get up, now"

Jessica woke with a start. Her grandmother knocked on the door again.

"Come on. Up you get." Jessica heard her walking towards the kitchen and then the sound of many various bowls and utensils being whisked out of their drawers. She rolled onto her back trying to remember the dream she had been having. It had been a good one. There had been an infant with black hair and green eyes, herself, and a flying motorbike.

Her grandmother was back outside the door.

"Are you up yet?" she asked

"Nearly" said Jessica

"Well go a bit faster please, I want you to look after the cake mixture. And if you can try to follow the recipe, I want it to be nice on Remus' birthday."

Jessica sighed.

"What was that sweetie?"

"Nothing, nothing."

Remus' birthday! - how could she have forgotten her own father's birthday? Jessica got out of her bed and began searching her wardrobe for some nice clothes (she decided on a blue t-shirt and black skirt)

When she was dressed, she crept soundlessly down the stairs as to not wake her father, pausing to get an apron out of the cupboard, and then proceeded to the kitchen. On the table there was a small pile of presents. After a few minutes of mixing and measuring ingredients, her grandfather entered.

"Wow, with skills like that, you'll be top of the class in potions at Hogwarts" He often gave Jessica compliments like this, because at the local muggle school, she was often bullied.

Maybe it was to do with the fact that she'd rather read than play 'Pixies and Fairies' in the trees lining the school field (mainly because she knew how vicious they could really be).Or that she was adopted. It also may have had something to do with how she looked; she had long, thick red hair, a light and round face, rather short for her age. She also had a funny scar in the shape of a lightning bolt on the back of her neck. Whenever Jessica asked Remus about it he got a weird misty look in his eyes "When your parents were killed by..." He was never able to finish this sentence, torn with grief. However one thing was certain, the bullying, normally executed a snobby girl named Melanie and her friends, more often than not resulted in Jessica coming home crying.

As Jessica's grandmother put the cake in the oven, Remus entered. "Happy Birthday!" they all shouted as Remus smiled and slipped into a seat at the table. "Open mine first! It's the one to the right" said Jessica as she sat next to him. Remus carefully unwrapped the little blue package and out dropped a small cage that fit in his palm containing a chestnut brown horse, with the upper body of a man "Wow, a centaur?"

"Don't worry, it's not a real one, only a miniature model." Jessica hugged Remus, and looked up into his face "Happy birthday dad." A little of the light left Remus' eyes

"Jessica, you know I'm not your father, please just call me Remus. James is the only one who deserves to be called your father." Remus whispered, so only he and Jessica could hear. Jessica was used to this speech, but still saw Remus as her father.

At that point a large barn owl swept through the window, landing on the table. Jessica's grandmother opened the letter, sighed and scribbled a hasty reply before sending the owl off. "Mrs. Lovegood has been killed by one of her, experiments. Xenophilius won't be able to show us his collection." Jessica was disappointed, they had arranged to take Remus to see Mr. Lovegood's collection of interesting creatures (Remus was fascinated with dangerous creatures, but only the little ones; nothing like dragons, more like grindylows or hinkypunks) but now it seemed that her father's biggest surprise was not to be. Unless... Jessica thought of an idea "why don't we go to a muggle zoo? That would be just as interesting, wont it?" she looked at Remus, his eyes faintly lighting with excitement "Well, I suppose we could, they're quite interesting to compare to magical creatures. It shouldn't be too much hassle." Said Remus

"Although it would have been great to see Xeno's collection wouldn't it?" he added quickly.

Before they left, Remus took Jessica to the side "Listen, while we're out, can you try to keep control of yourself? So we don't get into any tough spots with muggles." Jessica immediately knew what Remus was talking about. Whenever she lost her cool, magic would sometimes shoot out, and happen without her meaning it to. Once, when Remus insisted on cutting her hair himself, he did a horrible job of it, and Jessica was terrified about what fresh wave of teasing would come at school the next day. However, when she woke up, the cut was even, and looked very good. Another time, when Melanie and her friends were chasing her, she had wanted to get away and ended up beyond the school boundaries. She explained that she probably wasn't thinking, and just running, but got detention anyway. Remus however seemed proud and thought she may have apparated.

When they arrived at the zoo, they went and had a look at lots of animals. Remus seemed thoroughly interested, but Jessica didn't think the octopi compared to a grindylow, or the gorilla to a hippogriff. After eating some lunch, they went off to the reptile house. It was cool and dark, with lit windows all along the walls. Behind the glass, all sorts of lizards and snakes were crawling over bits of wood and stone. Jessica stopped outside the window of the largest snake. It could have wrapped around a car twice and crushed it, but it didn't seem in the mood. It was fast asleep.

There was a rather fat boy about her age with his nose pressed against the glass. "Make it move" he whined to a round man who was obviously his father, who tapped the glass. "Do it again" the boy ordered, the man obeyed, but the snake remained asleep. "This is boring" he moaned, and shuffled away.

Jessica moved up to the glass, beside a short skinny boy with messy black hair, glasses and green eyes. She thought she had seen him before, but she wasn't sure where. The snake opened its eyes and slowly raised its head to eye level.

_It winked._

Jessica quickly looked around to see if anyone was watching. They weren't but she was sure Remus would be nearby, listening in. Jessica turned back to the snake and winked back. The snake jerked it's head to the fat man and boy who were now looking at a Python, and gave Jessica a look that said:_ "I get that all the time."_

"I know" murmured the boy next to her

"it must be annoying" added Jessica. The snake nodded vigorously

"Where do you come from?" asked the boy

"Brazil" said Jessica, pointing at the plaque

"Oh. Was it nice there?" This time the snake jabbed its tail at the plaque: _This specimen was bred in the zoo. _"Oh, I see - so you've never been to Brazil?"

As the snake shook its head, a deafening shout behind them made Jessica jump. "DUDLEY! MR DURSLEY! COME AND LOOK AT THIS SNAKE! YOU WON'T _BELIEVE _WHAT IT'S DOING!"

The fat boy from before came waddling towards them as fast as he could. "Out of the way, you" he said, punching the black haired boy in the ribs. Caught by surprise, he fell into Jessica and they both toppled painfully onto the hard concrete floor. What happened next was so fast no one saw how it happened – one second, the boy who had yelled and his fat friend were leaning up against the glass, the next, they had leapt back with howls of horror.

Jessica sat up and gasped; the glass front of the boa constrictor's tank had vanished. The great snake was uncoiling itself rapidly, slithering out on the floor – people throughout the reptile house screamed and started running for the exits.

As the snake slid swiftly past her, Jessica could have sworn a low hissing voice said "Brazil, here I come ... Thanksss amigosss." The keeper of the reptile house was in shock.

"But the glass" he kept saying, "where did the glass go?"

"I think we'd better leave." Jessica jumped as Remus whispered in her ear

"Okay." She got up and turned to the boy "Well, bye then."

"Bye" said the boy's shocked voice.

"What happened with that snake?" asked Remus when they arrived home. Jessica was used to these interrogations after she used accidental magic. "Well, that boy and I were talking to the snake, it seemed to understand us, then the other boy came and pushed us over, and the glass disappeared."

Remus, became rigid for a split second at the part about the snake, but quickly relaxed again "Do you know him from anywhere?" he asked

"No. Well, I don't think so. He seemed familiar somehow"

"Alright I understand pup, you can go now." Jessica sighed and went out to the garden and lay on the lawn.

She had spent ten years with Remus. Ten long strenuous years. And she felt sure he was hiding something. It probably had something to do with her past. Even when she strained her memory really hard, all she could remember was a high, cruel laugh, a flash of green light and a burning pain on her neck. This was probably the murder of her parents, but she wondered what the pain on her neck was, and whether this was how she had received her strange scar.


	3. The Letters from No One

**Here's chapter 3! Sorry about any confusion with the last chapter – I took it down for editing and when I checked it a few days later, it didn't seem to have changed, so I tried the same thing again.**

****DISCLAIMER** I don't own the Harry Potter stories**

**Jessica Potter and the Philosopher's Stone**

**Chapter 3 **

**The Letters from No One **

The escape of the Brazilian boa constrictor earned Jessica a small witness article in the local muggle newspaper. By the time all the weird looks from people in the streets had stopped, the summer holidays had started, and Jessica was now looking forward to her own upcoming birthday.

Jessica was relatively glad that school was over, but there was no escaping Melanie's gang, who prowled the village every day. Lindy, Georgia, Anna and Lisa were all mean, but as Melanie was the meanest, she was the leader. The rest of them were happy to join in Melanie's favourite pastime: Taunting others.

This was why Jessica spent as much time as possible inside the house, mostly reading, but she also spent much of her time helping out Remus and her grandparents. She tried to keep optimistic; in September, she would hopefully be heading off to Hogwarts, and would only be seeing Melanie and her friends in the summer holidays.

One day in July, her grandparents left for to buy some supplies from Diagon Alley, leaving her with Remus. He seem a little more stressed that usual, and Jessica supposed this had something to do with the snake episode, but also that fact that her Hogwarts letter hadn't arrived, and they usually arrived in about July according to Remus.

The next morning at breakfast, with the usual collection of owls swooping in, there was a large tawny owl that Jessica didn't recognise. It landed in front of her and stretched out is leg. On it was an envelope of yellow parchment, with emerald-green writing:

_Miss J Lupin_

_ The smallest bedroom_

_ 7 Bramble Lane_

_ Little Oaking_

_ Kent_

Jessica turned over the envelope, and on the back there was a coat of arms bearing a capital H surrounded by a lion, snake, eagle and badger.

"Dad! I mean, Remus! It's here! It's my Hogwarts letter!" Her grandmother jumped up and gave her a big hug "Congratulations dear" Remus gave her a big smile, looking slightly relieved. And Jessica's grandfather nodded encouragingly, "Well, open it, give it a read" he said.

"Okay then" Said Jessica as she carefully opened the envelope, removed one of the two pieces of parchment, and read:

_HOGWARTS SCHOOL OF WITCHCRAFT AND WIZARDRY_

_Headmaster: Albus Dumbledore _

_(Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorc., Chf. Warlock,_

_Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. of Wizards)_

_Dear Miss Lupin,_

_We are pleased to inform you that you have a place at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed list of all necessary books and equipment._

_Term begins on 1 September. We await your owl by no later than 31 July._

_Yours Sincerely,_

Minerva Mcgonagall

Deputy Headmistress

Jessica looked up, smiling. "We should send my owl then, we shouldn't keep them waiting" she added excitedly. "I'm so proud Jess, your growing up so fast, off to Hogwarts in just over a month." Said Remus, his face a mixture of joy and sadness "What will it be like with you off at school I wonder..." his voice was slowly fading into the ensuing chaos. Owls were hooting, and Jessica's grandmother had to rush around, trying to collect the mail, writing quick replies to many, her grandfather was helping, and Remus was trying to continue the conversation as though nothing was happening (Jessica herd none of what he was saying).

When everything had calmed down, Remus sent the bird off with two letters, one was Jessica's reply to her letter, the other, Jessica had no idea about. A new thought occurred to Jessica "This means I finally get my wand! When are we going to go to Diagon Alley?" she asked excitedly

"Soon, but we won't go for a couple of days, it'll be packed with Hogwarts students if the letters are arriving today" replied Remus.

"Oh, I see." Jessica mumbled as she walked up to her room to read a little more.

For the next few days, Remus seemed very interested in the mail; he seemed to be expecting a letter from someone. He also was constantly checking if anyone was at the door, which Jessica found very odd. However, these thoughts were soon pushed out of her mind as the days clicked over, getting closer to September the 1st, and Jessica got more and more excited about going to Hogwarts.

From what Jessica had heard Remus say about his years at Hogwarts, she knew that it would be the best seven years of her life. Not only would she be learning magic, which was bound to be more interesting than English and maths, but she would finally be rid of all the annoying muggles in the village where she lived, and be with other witches and wizards.

There was one worry nagging on her excited mind; what house would she be sorted into? Jessica knew that your house became your family at Hogwarts, but what if she didn't like her "family"? She knew Remus had been a Gryffindor, and she thought her parents might've been. (She wasn't entirely sure) Jessica soon decided that Gryffindor, Hufflepuff or Ravenclaw would be fine, and she would be able to live comfortably at Hogwarts in those houses. However, after everything she knew about Slytherin, she really didn't want to be sorted into that house, and if she was, she didn't know what she'd do. Probably leave.

Soon, the excitement of going to Hogwarts wore off, and was replaced by an excitement she got every year around this time; in just two days she would be turning 11. She was looking forward to opening presents, and feeling the thrill of being a whole year older. This year it was extra special, as 11 was Hogwarts age, and Jessica was sure she'd get something special to take with her when she left.

At about lunchtime that day, Remus seemed extra alert; it seemed his reply still hadn't come by owl post, or even regular post. He therefore jumped about a foot in the air when there was a loud crash coming from the hall. The whole house shook and Jessica nearly choked on her sandwich.

BOOM.

The deafening bangs seemed to be what Remus had been waiting for the past few days, and he scurried out of the room.

BOOM.

Someone was outside, knocking to come in.


	4. The Keeper of the Keys

**Next chapter is here!**

**I don't own Harry Potter**

**Jessica Potter and the Philosopher's Stone**

**Chapter 4**

**The Keeper of Keys**

BOOM. They knocked again. Remus reached the door and wrenched it open. "Hagrid, I'm so glad you made it, but you don't have to smash the door open." A giant of a man was standing in the doorway. His face was almost completely hidden by a long shaggy mane of hair and a wild, tangled beard, but you could make out his eyes, glinting like black beetles under all the hair.

The giant squeezed his way into the house, stooping so his head just brushed the ceiling. "Couldn't make us a cup o' tea could yeh?" He strode into the living room, and sat down on a sofa, which creaked and groaned under his weight.

After Jessica's grandmother entered the room with tea, the giant drank it in one gulp. "Hagrid, we need to talk," began Remus

"What about?" asked the giant

Err... Jessica, could you come over here for a minute?" as Jessica walked over towards Remus, the giant's expression softened.

"Can you show Hargid your scar Jess?" asked Remus,

"Wait, who are you?" she asked the giant

"True, I haven't introduced meself. Rubeus Hagrid, Keeper of Keys and Grounds at Hogwarts. Yeh can call me Hagrid, everyone does." Satisfied, Jessica turned and lifted her hair off her neck, and Hargid gasped.

"That scar, is she who I think she is? She looks jus' like 'er mum-"

"You knew my mother?"Jessica asked, intrigued, however Remus continued like she had said nothing. "Hagrid, this is what I need to talk about." Remus' voice had an undertone of seriousness.

"Yes, you're perfectly correct. This is in fact Jessica, and we want you to make sure of one thing, make sure he doesn't find out."

"Who?"

Remus glanced over to Jessica, as if afraid of how much to say in front of her.

"You know perfectly well who, you're going to see him tomorrow."

"How do yeh know that? That's 'tween me an' Dumbledore, that is."

"Well I have my sources..."

Hagrid simply sat and stared at him. Jessica thought he looked quite taken aback about how Remus knew so much about what was obviously supposed to be a secret.

After a few quiet minutes filled with only the sound of Remus sipping his tea, Hagrid spoke. "So what is it yeh want me to do then?"

"Just a simple task: We're going to Diagon Alley on the 31st, if you would kindly ensure we don't have any... unexpected meetings with him that will be greatly appreciated."

"Why? Don' yeh want them ter meet?"

"No! Not yet anyway, l'll wait until they've at least properly met."

"Who?" Jessica asked, and Remus jumped, he had forgotten she was in the room.

"No one. Jess, how about you head up to your room for a bit, Hagrid and I have a lot to catch up on."

"Oh, alright then." She mumbled as she left the room, and walked upstairs.

Jessica stayed there for over two hours, but when she heard movement downstairs, she sprinted down the stairs, eager to catch a hint of the conversation. "You must stay for tea Hagrid, I insist." Jessica sighed; it was only her grandmother extending her usual warm welcome to their guest.

That night, the dinner table was crowded; Hagrid had a full side of the table to himself, and the others had to squeeze around the rest of the small table. While eating, the conversation mainly consisted of stories from Hagrid, and many looks of warning from Remus, when Hagrid got close to revealing anything about their secret conversation. However, from what she heard from the stories of Remus in his youth, he was very different, and quite a prankster along with his three best friends. These stories filled Jessica with hope that when she attended Hogwarts, she would find a group of friends that would stick by her, all the time.

When all the plates were magically cleared by Jessica's grandmother, and Hagrid stood up to leave and Jessica was almost sad to see him go, but reminded herself that he would be at Hogwarts when she got there in just over month. "Bye Jessica, I'll be see'n yeh at Hogwarts. An' Happy Birthday for the 31st." Out the corner of her eye, Jessica thought she saw Remus send Hagrid a warning look

"Oh, um Remus said your birthday was the day after tomorrow..."

"OK then, bye Hagrid" said Jessica.

After Hagrid left and some of the furniture had been magically repaired, it was beginning to get late, and Jessica needed to go up to bed. After getting into her pyjamas, Jessica lay in bed thinking, rather than going to sleep. What had Hagrid and Remus been talking about earlier? It definitely involved Hogwarts, and something was happening on her birthday... Defeated, she decided to assume they were planning a celebration for her birthday or for her getting accepted to Hogwarts.

The next day seemed to pass in a blur to Jessica; she got up, got dress, went downstairs and ate breakfast. She spent the rest of the day out in the garden. She read, tended to some of the plants and cloud-gazed. But no matter what she was doing, she was thinking. Thinking about her upcoming schooling at Hogwarts, thinking about her birthday the very next day, thinking about their trip to buy her school things tomorrow. But the thing she thought about the most was what Remus and Hagrid had spoken about the previous day when she hadn't been able to listen. She knew there was one huge puzzle piece that she was missing, and once she knew what that was, everything else would fall in place.

At dinner that evening, Jessica soon forgot all about yesterday's conversation, as the realisation of tomorrow dawned on her. "So, it's your last night being ten. Are you looking forward to tomorrow? We'll be heading off to Diagon Alley. Although you probably already know that." Said her grandmother to break the silence, "Yeah, I'm really excited about getting my wand."

"Everyone gets excited about that."

After much idle conversation, when dinner had been cleared away, and there was nothing but silence, Remus was the first to break it "Well Pup, you'd better head up to bed, it's a long day tomorrow." However, when Jessica got into bed, she couldn't sleep, for she was far too excited about tomorrow. So Jessica was completely unaware at what time she fell asleep, she only knew when she woke up.


	5. Diagon Alley

**Yes! Two chapters in one day!**

**I don't own Harry Potter**

**Jessica Potter and the Philosopher's Stone**

**Chapter 5**

**Diagon Alley**

Jessica setup slowly as she woke, and stared abound the room a little, before realizing what day it was. It was July 31st, her birthday, and the day when she would finally go to Diagon Alley to get her school things. She could hear movement downstairs, it sounded like a nice birthday breakfast was being made for her, so she decided to wait a few minutes to give her family time to prepare it.

After dressing, Jessica walked down the stairs, into a kitchen full of wonderful smells; her grandmother had made all her favourite breakfast foods on her birthday, and it all looked wonderful. After filling up with pancakes, fruit salad, bacon, and eggs, Jessica turned to her small pile of presents. From Remus, she'd gotten a book entitled _Modern Magical History_ which interested her a lot, and from her grandparents, she'd gotten a small tortoise shell cat, with striking green eyes, who she decided to call Truffles.

When the presents were unwrapped, and Truffles was happily sleeping in her cat bed, it was Remus who interrupted the chatter "We should probably head off. Should we go by Floo?" and in a matter of minutes, Jessica was standing next to the fireplace with Remus. He lit the fire, and stepping up to the flames, threw Floo onto them, which turned emerald green, "Diagon Alley!" and he vanished. Jessica followed "Diagon Alley" she said, and was whisked away. It felt like she was being sucked into a giant plug hole. She was spinning very fast, and the roaring in her ears was deafening. She arrived at the right grate, and stepped out, almost falling over as she was very dizzy, but covered in soot.

Jessica brushed the soot off her and looked around; she was in a tiny, dark and shabby pub. "Welcome to the Leaky Cauldron Jess." She looked up and saw Remus standing next to her

"I've got your list of things for Hogwarts here." He handed her a piece of parchment, Jessica unfolded it and read:

_HOGWARTS SCHOOL OF WITCHCRAFT AND WIZARDRY_

Uniform

_First year students will require:_

_Three sets of plain work robes (black)_

_One plain pointed hat (black)for day wear_

_One pair of protective gloves (dragon hide or similar)_

_One winter coat (black, silver fastenings)_

_Please note that all pupils' clothing should carry name tags_

Set Books

_All students should have a copy of the following:_

The Standard Book of Spells (Grade 1) _by Miranda Goshawk_

A History of Magic_ by Bathilda Bagshot_

Magical Theory _by Alalbert Waffling_

A Beginners' Guide to Transfiguration _by Emeric Switch_

One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi _by Phyllida Spore_

Magical Drafts and Potions _by Arsenius Jigger_

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them _by Newt Scmander_

The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection _by Quentin Trimble_

Other Equipment:

_1 wand_

_1 cauldron (Pewter, standard size 2)_

_1 telescope_

_1 set brass scales_

_Students may also bring an owl OR a cat OR a toad_

_PARENTS ARE REMINDED THAT FIRST YEARS ARE NOT ALLOWED THIER OWN BROOMSTICKS_

"So, off to Gringotts then?" asked Remus

"Defiantly"

They walked out the back door of the Leaky Cauldron, and Remus tapped the wall three times, revealing the archway into Diagon Alley. Together they walked through, and headed down the street. They arrived outside a snowy-white building which towered over the other little shops. Standing beside its burnished bronze doors, wearing a uniform of scarlet and gold, was a goblin. It was a few heads shorter than Jessica, with swarthy, clever face, a pointed beard and very long fingers and feet. He bowed as the y walked past. They were now facing a second pair of doors, silver this time, with words engraved upon them:

_Enter, stranger, but take heed_

_Of what awaits the sin of greed,_

_For those who take, but do not earn,_

_Must pay most dearly in their turn,_

_So if you seek beneath our floors_

_A treasure that was never yours,_

_Thief, you have been warned, beware _

_Of finding more than treasure there._

A pair of goblins bowed them through the silver doors and they were in a vast marble hall. About a hundred more goblins were sitting on high stools behind a long counter, scribbling in large ledgers, weighing coins in brass scales, examining precious stones though eyeglasses. There were too many doors to count leading off the hall, and yet more goblins were showing people in and out of these. Jessica and Remus made for the counter.

"Hello" said Remus to a free goblin. "We've come to take some money out of Jessica's safe."

"You have her key sir?"

"Right here" said Remus, holding up a tiny golden key. The goblin looked at it closely.

"That seems to be in order. I will have someone take you down to the vault. Griphook!"

Griphook was yet another goblin. Remus and Jessica followed him towards one of the doors leading off the hall. They were in a narrow stone passageway lit with flaming torches. It sloped steeply downwards and there were little railway tracks on the floor. Griphook whistled and a small cart came hurtling up the tracks towards them. They climbed in and were off.

At first they just hurtled through a maze of twisting passages. Jessica tried to remember, left, right, right, left, middle fork, right, left, but it was impossible. The rattling cart seemed to know its own way, because Griphook wasn't steering.

Jessica's eyes stung as the cold air rushed past them, but she kept them wide open. Once, she thought she saw a burst of fire at the end of a passage and twisted around to see what it was, but too late-they plunged even deeper, passing an underground lake where huge stalactites and stalagmites grew from the ceiling and floor.

"I never know," Remus called to Jessica over the noise of the cart, "what's the difference between a stalactite and a stalagmite?"

"Stalactites hang down and stalagmites grow up from the floor" replied Jessica.

The cart stopped at last beside a small door in the passage wall. Griphook unlocked the door. A lot of green smoke came billowing out, and as it cleared, Jessica gasped. Inside were mounds of gold galleons. Columns of silver sickles. Heaps of little bronze Knuts.

"All yours. It's what your parents left behind for you." Smiled Remus.

Remus helped Jessica pile some of it into a bag, and one wild cart ride later they stood blinking in the sun light outside Gringotts. "Let's get your uniform first." Said Remus, nodding towards _Madam Makin's Robes for All Occasions_. "Listen Jess, would you mind if I slipped off to buy some Floo powder? We're running rather low." Nodding her head, Jessica entered Madam Malkin's shop alone.

Madam a squat, smiling witch dressed all in mauve. "Hogwarts, dear?" she asked "Got the lot here, come down the back. In the back of the shop, Jessica stood on a footstool, while Madame Malkin slipped a long black robe over her head and began to pin it to the right length.

Before long, a boy with a pale, pointed face stood on the footstool next to Jessica, while another witch pinned up his long black robes. "Hullo" said the boy "Hogwarts too?"  
>"Yes" said Jessica.<p>

"My father's next door buying my books and mother's up the street looking at wands" said the boy. He had a bored, drawling voice.

"Sorry, but what use is that? The wand chooses the wizard." Interrupted Jessica. The boy looked quite offended "Well, err, it doesn't matter. Know what house you'll be in yet?"

"No, no one knows until they get there. But I'm _hoping_ for Ravenclaw or Gryffindor"

"Well, I know I'll be in Slytherin, all our family have been-Imagine being in Hufflepuff, I think I'd leave, wouldn't you?"

"No." Jessica was enjoying making this rude boy feel stupid, however, her conversation was cut short by Madam Malkin. "All done dear."

"Bye then" Jessica smirked to the blonde boy. On her way out, Jessica almost bumped into a short skinny boy coming into the shop. "Sorry" he mumbled. Jessica hoped he knew enough about Hogwarts to not be outsmarted by the blonde boy.

After meeting back up with Remus, they went and bought Jessica's school books in a shop called Flourish and Blotts where the shelves were stacked to the ceiling with books as large as paving stones bound in leather; books the size of postage stamps in covers of silk; books full of strange symbols and a few books with nothing in them at all. They then bought a pewter cauldron, a set of nice scales for weighing potion ingredients and a collapsible brass telescope and visited the Apothecary. It was fascinating enough to make up for its horrible smell. Barrels of slimy stuff stood on the floor, jars of herbs, dried roots and bright powders lined the walls, bundles of feathers, strings of fangs and snarled claws hung from the ceiling. Remus asked the man at the counter for some basic potion ingredients for Jessica, and they quickly left to gulp in breaths of fresh air.

Outside the apothecary, Remus checked Jessica's list again "Just your wand left." He said and they headed down to the end of the street. The last shop was narrow and shabby. Peeling gold letters over the door read _Oleanders: Makers of Fine Wands since 382 BC._ A single wand lay on a faded purple cushion in the dusty window. A tinkling bell rang somewhere in the depths of the shop as they stepped inside. It was a tiny place, empty except for a tiny, spindly chair. Jessica felt like she had just stepped inside a very strict library. The very dust and silence in here seemed to tingle with magic.

"Good afternoon" said a soft voice. Jessica jumped. An old man was standing before her, his wide, pale eyes shining like moons through the gloom of the shop. "Hello" said Jessica awkwardly

"Ah yes" said the man "Yes, yes. I thought I'd be seeing you soon. Jessica" It wasn't a question. "You have your father's eyes. It seems only yesterday he was here himself, buying his first wand. Eleven inches long, pliable, made of mahogany. Excellent for transfiguration." Remus sorted and Mr Ollivander moved closer to Jessica. Jessica wished he would blink. Those silvery eyes were creepy. "Your mother on the other hand, favoured a willow wand. Ten and a quarter inches. Swishy. A little less power and a nice wand for charm work. Well, I say your mother favoured it – it's really the wand that chooses the witch, of course"

Mr Ollivander had come so close that he and Jessica were almost nose to nose. Jessica could see herself reflected in those misty eyes. "And that's where ..." Mr Ollivander touched the lightning scar on Jessica's neck with a long, white finger. "I'm sorry to say I sold the wand that did it" he said softy "Thirteen and a half inches. Yew. Powerful wand, very powerful, and in the wrong hands ... Well if I'd known what that wand was being sent out in the world to do..." he shook his head again and then, to Jessica's relief, spotted Remus. "Remus! Remus Lupin! How nice to see you again ... elm, eleven and a quarter inches, rather bendy wasn't it?

"Yes, it is" said Remus, pulling out his wand to show Mr Ollivander.

"Well now, let me see" said Ollivander, turning back to Jessica. He pulled a tape measure with silver markings out of his pocket. "Which is your wand arm?"

"This one" said Jessica, holding out her right arm. Ollivander began using the tape measure to measure her arm. At some point, he began to flit through the shelves while the tape measure continued on its own. "Every Ollivander wand has a core of a powerful magical substance. We use unicorn hairs, phoenix tail feathers and dragon heartstring. No two Ollivander wands are alike, just as no unicorn or phoenix is the same. That will do." And the tape measure dropped to the floor. "Right then. Try this one" he said, holding out a wand Beachwood and dragon heartstring. Nine inches. Nice and flexible. Give it a wave" However when Jessica did, nothing happened and Ollivander snatched it out of her hands. "Maple and phoenix feather. Seven inches. Quite whippy. Try-" Jessica tried, but had merely lifted it an inch when Ollivander took it back. It continued this way for many wands, Ollivander getting more excited with every rejected one. "What about this?" asked Ollivander, holing out what must be the fifteenth wand "Oak, phoenix tail feather. Ten inches. Nice and bendy" Jessica took the wand, and felt a warmth in her fingers. She waved the wand, and a shower of red and blue sparks emerged from the end. "Oh bravo! Yes, indeed, oh, very good. Well, well, well ... Curious ... Very curious ..."

"What's curious?" asked Jessica, Ollivander fixed Jessica with his pale stare

"I remember every wand I've ever sold. Every single wand. It so happens that the phoenix whose tail feather is in your wand, gave two others. It is very curious indeed that you should be destined for that wand when its brother gave you that scar." Jessica swallowed

"Yes, thirteen and a half inches. Curious indeed how these things happen. The wand chooses the witch, remember ... I think we must expect great things from you. After all, He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named did great things - terrible, yes, but great." Jessica shivered. She wasn't sure she liked Ollivander too much. She paid seven Galleons for her wand and Mr Ollivander bowed them from his shop.

The late afternoon sun hung low in the sky as Jessica and Remus returned home. "You're all sorted for Hogwarts in a month, you excited?" asked Remus

"Yes, it'll be an adventure, for sure"

"You bet it'll be. Let's go help sort out dinner. And Jessica?"

"Yes?"

"Happy birthday"


	6. The Journey From Platform 9 34

**Hey here's chapter 6 for you guys! Sorry it took so long to update, I went to the Taylor Swift Concert & didn't have a chance to write!**

**Jessica Potter and the Philosopher's Stone**

**Chapter Six**

**The Journey from Platform Nine and Three Quarters**

Jessica's last month with the Lupins was great. Her family tried to cram as much fun into one month as possible. They spent all the time together that they could, and Jessica was only able to spend a few short moments each day looking through her Hogwarts books. Even so, she managed to read them all numerous times each and memorised a few of them.

On the morning of September 1st, Jessica woke early and lay in bed excitedly, waiting for everyone else to wake. _Today is the day. _She thought. _Today I'm going to Hogwarts._ She heard movement in the next room, Remus must've been awake. Jessica quickly dressed and went downstairs. Remus was waiting for her, sipping hot cocoa form a mug. "Jess, hi, good morning. You ready for today?" he asked, waving his wand so another mug appeared in mid-air and filled with cocoa (it was Jessica's favourite) "Yes I'm all packed," she replied, taking a sip of her cocoa. Footsteps pattered down the stairs and Jessica's grandmother walked through the door "Morning, Jessica, you ready for Hogwarts? I can't believe your heading off today, it seems like just yesterday we were sending Remus off on the train for the first time." She said

A few hours later, at quarter to eleven Jessica was standing in the middle of Kings Cross Station, with Truffles the cat, and her school trunk. Remus and her grandparents were standing beside her. "Onto the platform then?" said Remus, approaching the barrier between platforms nine and ten. He didn't stop, he simply walked straight through it. Jessica moved up to follow him, and moved towards the barrier. She closed her eyes, ready for an impact that didn't come. Jessica opened her eyes. A scarlet steam engine was waiting next to a platform packed with people. A sign overhead said _Hogwarts Express, 11 o' clock. _Jessica looked behind her and saw a wrought iron archway where the ticket box had been, with the words _Platform Nine and Three Quarters _on it. She had done it. Her grandparents were coming through the archway behind her.

Smoke from the engine drifted over the heads of the chattering crowd, while cats of every colour wound here and there between their legs. Owls hooted to each other in a disgruntled sort of way over the babble and scraping of heavy trunks. The first few carriages were already packed with students, some hanging out the windows to talk to their families, some fighting over seats. The four of them headed down the Platform to find a spot where they could say their last goodbyes. "This is it I guess" said Remus, "We promise we'll sent an owl in a few days, see how you're settling in, and we'll write all the time"

"We'll miss you so much" said her grandmother

"Me too, I'd better get on the train now, will I see you at Christmas?" asked Jessica

"Yes. At Christmas. Bye Jessica" and after one last group hug, Jessica pulled her trunk onto the train, and waved goodbye.

Jessica pressed on until she found an empty compartment near the end of the train. After managing to get her trunk and Truffles safely inside the compartment, she settled down to read a book. After a few minutes, there was a commotion outside. Jessica glanced up from her book and saw that there was a thin boy trying to get his own trunk into the compartment. As Jessica got up, a boy with flaming red hair appeared. "Want a hand?" said one of them

"Yes please" said the black haired boy

"Oy, Fred! C'mere and help!" An identical red-haired boy approached them, and together, they got the trunk tucked into the corner of the compartment. "Thanks" said the younger boy, pushing his hair out of his eyes, Jessica stared at his forehead in disbelief, on it was a scar identical to the one on her neck, the boy noticed her staring, and Jessica quickly looked away. "Blimey" said the second twin "Are you-?"

"He _is_" said the first twin "aren't you?" he added.

"What?" said the black haired boy

"_Harry Potter" _chorused the twins.

"Oh him," said Harry "I mean, yes, I am" The two boys gawped at him and Harry went red.

"Fred? George? Are you there?" said a voice floating through the door

"Coming mum" the twins said, and they left.

Jessica watched the boy as he moved next to the window. Jessica could tell that he was eavesdropping on the red-haired family's conversation (the twins had joined them). She decided to listen in too, just in case they said anything interesting. She didn't dare move closer to the window, in case Harry realised she was also eavesdropping.

"Ron, you've got something on your nose." This sounded like the mother.

"_Mum_ – geroff." Came another boy's voice

"Aaah, has ickle Ronnie got somefink on his nosie?" said one of the twins

"Shut up" said Ron

"Where's Percy?" said the mother

"He's coming now."

"Can't stay longer, mother" said another voice, but this one had a more pompous undertone. "I'm up the front, the prefects have got two compartments to themselves –

"Oh are you a _perfect_ Percy?" said one of the twins, with an air of great surprise, "you should have said something about it, we had no idea."

"Hang on, I think I remember him saying something about it" said the other twin "Once -"

"Or twice -"

"A minute -"

"All summer -"

"Oh, shut up" said Percy the Prefect.

"How come Percy gets new robes, anyway?" said one of the twins.

"Because he's a _prefect_" said their mother fondly. "All right, dear, well, have a good term – send me an owl when you get there. Now you two – this year, you behave yourselves. If I get one more owl telling me you've – you've blown up a toilet or -"

"Blown up a toilet? We've never blown up a toilet."

"Great idea though, thanks mum" said the twins

"It's _not funny_. And look after Ron."

"Don't worry, ickle Ronniekins is safe with us.

"Shut up" Ron said again.

"Hey, mum, guess what? Guess who we just met on the train?" Jessica saw Harry lean back quickly from the window so the family wouldn't see him looking.

"Know that black-haired boy who was near us in the station? Know who he is?"

"Who?"

"_Harry Potter!"_

Jessica heard a little girl's voice. "Oh mum, can I go on the train and see him, mum, oh please ..."

"You've already seen him, Ginny, and the poor boy isn't something you goggle at in a zoo. Is he really Fred? How do you know?"

"Asked him. Saw his scar. It's really there – like lightning."

"Poor _dear_ – no wonder he was alone, I wondered. He was ever so polite when he asked how to get onto the platform."

"Never mind that, do you think he remembers what – no wonder he was alone, I wondered. He was ever so polite when he asked how to get onto the platform."

"Never mind that, do you think he remembers what You-Know-Who looks like?"

Their mother's voice suddenly became very sudden.

"I forbid you from asking him, Fred. No, don't you dare. As though he needs reminding of that on his first day of school."

"All right, keep your hair on."

A whistle sounded.

"Hurry up!" their mother said, and their younger sister sounded like she was crying.

"Don't, Ginny, we'll send you loads of owls"

"We'll send you a Hogwarts toilet seat."

"_George!_"

"Only joking, mum."

The train began to move, and Jessica finally glanced a peak at the platform and saw the boy's mother; she was plump with flaming red hair. She was waving, and Ginny, the younger sister was half laughing and half crying. She was running to keep up with the train until it gathered too much speed, and then she fell back and waved.

Harry turned to face Jessica. "Hi, I'm Harry."

Jessica giggled, "I heard, I'm Jessica"

"Have we met? You seem familiar"

"Yeah, earlier this year, at the zoo, with the snake and the vanishing glass"

"That's right." At that moment, the compartment door slid open and a tall, freckled boy with red hair walked in. This must've been Ron, thought Jessica.

"Anyone sitting there?" He asked, pointing at the seat opposite Harry. "Everywhere else is full."

Harry and Jessica shook their heads and the boy sat down.

"Hey Ron."

The twins were back.

"Listen, we're going down the middle of the train – Lee Jordan's got a giant tarantula down there."

"Right" mumbled Ron.

"Harry," said the other twin, "did we introduce ourselves? Fred and George Weasley. And this is Ron, out brother. See you later, then."

"Bye," said Harry Ron and Jessica. The twins slid the apartment door shut behind them.

"Are you really Harry Potter?" Ron blurted out.

Harry nodded.

"Oh – well, I thought it might be one of Fred and George's jokes," said Ron. "And have you really got – you know ..." He pointed at Harry's forehead. Harry pulled back his fringe to once again show his scar, and Jessica flattened her hair over her own scar.

"So that's where You-Know-Who -?" continued Ron

"Yes, but I can't remember it."

"Nothing?" asked Jessica

"Well – I remember a lot of green light, but nothing else."

"Wow" Ron said. He sat and stared at Harry for a few moments, then, as though he had suddenly realised what he was doing, and quickly turned to Jessica.

"So who are you?"

"Jessica, Jessica Lupin."

"Are all your family wizards?" asked Harry

"Yes, well the family I live with is, I don't know about my actual family because I was adopted." Said Jessica

"Oh, sorry" said Harry

"Yeah. Anyway, I think my family are all wizards," said Ron, "I think mum's got a second cousin who's an accountant ..." Jessica slowly zoned out of the conversation and looked back to her book. She never really had much to say when it came to family.

Harry and Ron managed to happily talk while Jessica read beside them until about half past twelve when there was a great clattering outside in the corridor, and a smiling, dimpled woman slid back the door and said "Anything off the trolley, dears?"

Jessica, who had had a large breakfast, wasn't hungry "No thank you," she said "I've got sandwiches." Next to her, Ron mumbled that he had some two. However harry jumped up and bought one of everything on the trolley.

"Hungry, are you?" asked Ron

"Starving" said Harry, taking a bite out of a large pumpkin pasty. Jessica pulled out a neat package and unwrapped it, then looked over at Ron who was similar package, but his was very lumpy.

"She always forgets I don't like corned beef."

"My favourite! Swap you for chicken" said Jessica

"You don't want this, it's all dry," said Ron. "She hasn't got much time," he added quickly, "you know, with five of us."

"Here, have a pasty, you too Jessica" said Harry, holding out two pasties. Soon, the three of them were happily munching away on Harry's food (Ron's sandwiches lay forgotten whereas Jessica ate about half of hers)

"What are these?" Harry asked, holding up a packet of Chocolate Frogs. "They're not _really_ frogs, are they?"

"No." Smiled Jessica

"See what the card is, I'm missing Agrippa."

"What?"

"Of course you wouldn't know – Chocolate Frogs have cards inside them, you know, to collect – Famous witches and wizards. I've got about five hundred, but I haven't got Agrippa or Ptolemy" said Ron. Jessica watched Harry as he unwrapped his Chocolate Frog

"So this is Dumbledore!" exclaimed Harry

"Don't tell me you don't know who Dumbledore is!" said Jessica

"Yeah. Can I have a frog? I might get Agrippa – thanks –"

Harry tuned over his card "_Albus Dumbledore, currently Headmaster of Hogwarts Considered by many the greatest wizard of modern times, Dumbledore is particularly famous for his defeat of the dark wizard Grindelwald in 1945, for the discovery of the twelve uses of Dragon's blood and his work on alchemy with his partner, Nicolas Flamel. Professor Dumbledore enjoys chamber music and tenpin bowling." _Harry turned back over the card "He's gone!"

"You can't expect him to wait in his picture all day." Said Jessica

"He'll be back, No, I've got Morgana again and I've got about six of her ... do you want it? You can start collecting." Ron's eyes strayed to the pile of Chocolate frogs waiting to be unwrapped.

"Help yourself" said Harry. "But in, you know, the muggle world, people just stay put in photos."

"Do they? What, they don't move at all?" Ron sounded amazed. "_Weird!_"

Harry soon picked up a packed of Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans.

"Be careful with them" said Jessica

"Yeah, when they say every flavour, they _mean_ every flavour – you know you get all the ordinary ones like chocolate and peppermint and marmalade, but then you can get spinach and liver and tripe. George reckons he had a bogey-flavoured one once." Ron picked up a green bean, looked at it carefully and bit into a corner. "Bleaaargh – see? Sprouts."

They had a good time eating the Every Flavour Beans. Jessica got lemon, chocolate, cinnamon, apple, grass, and sausage. She even had a strange red one that Harry dared her to eat, which turned out to be earthworm. "Wow, that one really is disgusting" said Jessica after she swallowed it. "For that, you have to have that one." She said, pointing to a grey one her and Ron wouldn't touch (she knew that it was black pepper).

There was a knock on the door of their compartment and a tearful, round-faced boy came in.

"Sorry," he said, "but have you seen a toad at all?" When they shook their heads, he wailed, "I've lost him! He keeps getting away from me!"

"He'll turn up," said Harry.

"Yes," said the boy miserably. "Well if you see him ..." He left.

"Don't know why he's so bothered," said Ron. "If I'd brought a toad I'd lose it as quick as I could. Mind you, I brought Scabbers, so I can't talk." Ron's fat grey rat had been asleep in his lap the whole train ride. "He might have died and you wouldn't know the difference," said Ron is disgust. "I tried to turn him yellow yesterday to make him more interesting, but the spell didn't work. I'll show you, look ..." He rummaged around on his trunk and pulled out a very battered looking wand, it was chipped in places and white strings of hair were glinting at the end.

"Unicorn hair's nearly poking out. Anyway –"

He had just raised his wand when the compartment door slid open again. The toadless boy was back, but this time, he had a girl with him. She was already wearing her new Hogwarts robes.

"Has anyone seen a toad? Neville's lost one," she said. She had a bossy sort of voice, lots of bushy brown hair and rather large front teeth.

"We've already told him we haven't seen it," said Ron, but the girl wasn't listening, she was looking at the wand in her hand.

"Oh are you doing magic? Let's see it, then."

She sat down. Ron looked taken aback.

"Er – all right."

He cleared his throat.

"Sunshine, daisies, butter mellow,

Turn this stupid fat rat yellow."

He waved his wand, but nothing happened. Scabbers stayed grey and fast asleep.

"Are you sure that's a real spell?" asked Jessica

"It's not very good, is it?" said the girl, "I've tried a few simple spells just for practise and it's all worked for me. Nobody in my family's magic at all, it was ever such a surprise when I got my letter, but I was ever so pleased, of course, I mean, it's the very best school of witchcraft there is, I've heard- -I've learnt all the set books off by heart, of course, I just hope it will be enough – I'm Hermione Granger, by the way, who are you?" She said all this very fast.

Jessica glanced over to Ron and Harry, who looked slightly stunned.

"Haven't you two memorised the set books? I have." She said, and then turned to Hermione, "I'm Jessica Lupin, and these two are Ron Weasley and Harry Potter."

"Really?" she said looking over to Harry. "I know all about you, of course – I got a few extra books for background reading, and you're in _Modern Magical History _and _The Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts_ and _Great Wizarding Events of the Twentieth Century._"

"Am I?" asked Harry, looked dazed

"Goodness, didn't you know, I'd have found out everything I could if it was me," said Hermione. "Do any of you know what house you'll be in? I've been asking around and I hope I'm in Gryffindor, it sounds by far the best, I hear Dumbledore himself was one, but I suppose Ravenclaw wouldn't be too bad ... Anyway, we'd better go look for Neville's toad. You three had better get changed, I expect we'll be there soon." And she left, taking the toadless boy with her

"Whatever house I'm in, I hope she's not in it," said Ron. He threw his wand back in his trunk. "Stupid spell – George gave it to me, bet he knew it was a dud."

"Of course it was," said Jessica.

"What house are your brothers in?" Asked Harry.

"Gryffindor," said Ron. Gloom seemed to be settling on him. "Mum and dad were in it too. I don't suppose Ravenclaw _would_ be too bad, but imagine if they put me in Slytherin."

"That's the house Vol- I mean, You-Know-Who was in?"

"Yeah," said Ron. He flopped back into his seat looking depressed.

"You know, Scabbers' whiskers look a little lighter," said Jessica, trying to take Ron's mind off houses

"What do your brothers do now they've left, anyway?" asked Harry

"Charlie's in Romania studying dragons and Bill's in Africa doing something for Gringotts," said Ron. "Did you hear about Gringotts? It's been all over the _Daily Profit, _but I don't suppose you get that with muggles – someone tried to rob a high security vault."

"Really? What happened to them?" asked Harry.

"Nothing, that's why it's so big. They haven't been caught. My _dad_ says it must've been a powerful Dark wizard to get round Gringotts, but they don't think they took anything, that's what's odd. But everyone gets scared when these kinds of things happen, in case You-Know-Who's behind it," said Jessica.

"What's your Quidditch team?" asked Ron

"Holyhead Harpies," said Jessica

"Cool, that's my sister's favourite. What about you Harry?"

"Er – I don't know any," Harry confessed

"What!" Ron looked dumbfounded "Oh you wait, it's the best game in the world –" And he was off, explaining about the four balls and the positions of the seven players, describing famous games he'd been to with his brothers and the broomstick he'd like to get if he had the money. He was just taking through the finer points of the game when the compartment door slid open yet again, but it wasn't Neville the toadless boy or Hermione this time.

Three boys entered and Jessica recognised the middle one at once: it was the pale boy from Madam Malkin's. He was looking at Harry with a lot of interest.

"Is it true?" he said. "They're all saying all down the train the Harry Potter's in this compartment. So it's you isn't it?"

"Yes," said Harry. Jessica turned her attention to the other two boys. They were standing like body guards on either side of the pale boy. Both of them were thickset and looked extremely mean.

"Oh, this is Crabbe and Goyle," said the pale boy carelessly, noticing where her and Harry were both looking. And my name's Malfoy, Draco Malfoy."

Ron gave a slight cough, which was probably hiding a snigger. Draco looked at him.

"Think my names funny do you? No need to ask who you are. My father told me all the Weasleys have red hair, freckles and more kids than they can afford." He turned to Jessica, you're probably one two." He turned back to Harry. "You'll soon find out some wizarding families are much better than others, Potter. You don't want to go making friends with the wrong sort. I can help you there." He held out his hand to shake Harry's, but Harry didn't take it.

"I think I can tell who the wrong sort are for myself, thanks," he said coolly. Draco Malfoy didn't go red, but a pink tinge appeared in his pale cheeks.

"I'd be careful if I were you, Potter," he said slowly. "Unless you're a bit politer you'll go the same way as your parents. They didn't know what was good for them, either. You hang around with riff-raff like the Wealeys and that Hagrid and it'll rub off on you."

Harry, Ron and Jessica stood up. Ron's face was as red as his hair. "Say that again," he said.

"Oh, you're going to fight us are you?"Malfoy sneered

"Unless you get out now, said Harry

"But we don't feel like leaving, do we boys? We've eaten all our food and you still seem to have some."

Goyle reached towards the Chocolate Frogs next to Ron – Ron leapt forward, but before he'd so much as touched Goyle, Goyle let out a horrible yell.

Scabbers the rat was hanging off his finger, sharp little teeth sunk deep into Goyle's knuckle – Crabbe and Malfoy backed away as Goyle swung Goyle round and round, howling, and when Scabbers finally flew off and hit the window, all three of them disappeared. Perhaps they thought there were more rats hiding in the sweets, or perhaps they heard footsteps, because a second later, Hermione Granger had come in.

"What _has _been going on?"She said, looking at the sweets all over the floor and Ron picking up Scabbers by the tail.

"I think he's been knocked out," Ron said to Harry. He looked closer at Scabbers. "No – I don't believe it – he's gone back to sleep."

And so he had.

"You've met Malfoy before?"

Harry and Jessica explained about their meetings with him in Diagon Alley.

"I've heard of his family," said Ron darkly. "They were some of the first to come back to our side after You-Know-Who disappeared. Said they'd been bewitched. My dad doesn't believe it. He says Malfoy's father didn't need an excuse to go over to the dark side." He turned to Hermione "Can we help you with something?"

"You'd better hurry up and put your robes on, I've just been up to the front to ask the driver, and he says we're nearly there. You haven't been fighting, have you? You'll be in trouble before we even get there!"

"Scabbers has been fighting, not us," said Ron, scowling at her. "Would you and Jessica mind leaving so we can get changed?"

"All right – I only came in here because people outside are behaving very childishly, racing up and down the corridors," said Hermione in a sniffy voice. "And you've got dirt on your nose, by the way. Come on Jessica."

Jessica followed her out, and quickly moved out of the corridor to get changed, then followed Hermione into another compartment. In it was Neville the toadless boy, a boy with sandy brown hair and two girls who looked like twins. "This is Jessica," said Hermione

The boy with the sandy hair was first to speak. He had a thick Irish accent, "Hi Jessica, I'm Seamus Finnigan."

"Pavarti –"

"And Padma –"

"Patil." Said the twin girls

"Hi." said Jessica.

A voice echoed through the train "We will be reaching Hogwarts in five minutes time. Please leave your luggage on the train, it will be taken to the school separately."Jessica's stomach bubbled with excitement, five minutes and she would be seeing Hogwarts for the first time.

Five minutes later, the train grinded to a stop outside the station. Jessica pushed her way through the door and out onto a small, dark platform. She shivered in the cold night air. A lamp came bobbing over the heads of the students and Jessica heard a familiar voice: "Firs' years! Firs' years over here! Hello Jessica." Hagrid's face beamed over the sea of heads. "C'mon, follow me – any more firs' years? Mind yer step, now! Firs' years follow me!"

Slipping and stumbling, they followed Hagrid a steep, narrow path. It was so dark either side of them, the Jessica thought there must be thick trees around them. Nobody spoke much. Neville sniffed once or twice.

"Yeh'll get yer fis' sight o' Hogwarts in a sec." Hagrid called over his shoulder, "jus' round this bend here."

There was a loud "Oooooh!"

The narrow path had opened suddenly on the edge of a great, black lake. Perched atop high a mountain on the other side, its black windows sparking in the starry sky, was a vast castle with many turrets and towers.

"No more'n four to a boat!" Hagrid called, pointing to a fleet of little boats sitting the water by the shore. Jessica followed Seamus and the twins into a boat.

"Everyone in?" shouted Hagrid, who had a boat to himself, "Right then – FORWARD!"

And the fleet of little boats moved off at once, gliding across the lake which was as glass. Everyone was silent, staring up at the great castle overhead. It towered over them as they sailed nearer and nearer to the cliff on which it stood.

"Heads down!" yelled Hagrid as the first boats reached the cliff; they all bent their heads and the little boats carried through a curtain of ivy which hid a wide opening in the cliff face. They were carried along a dark tunnel, which seemed to take them right under the castle, until they reached a sort of underground harbour, where they clambered out on to rocks and pebbles.

"Oy, you there, this your toad?" said Hagrid, who was checking the boats as people climbed out of them.

"Trevor!" cried Neville blissfully, holding out his hands. Then they clambered up a passageway in the rock after Hagrid's lamp, coming out at last on to smooth, damp grass right in the shadow of the castle.

They walked up a flight of stone steps and crowded around the huge, oak front door.

"Everyone here? You there, still got yer toad? "

Hagrid raised a gigantic fist and knocked three times on the castle door.


	7. The Sorting Hat

**Next chapter for you! If you're wondering why Jessica suffered a slight personality change in the last chapter, I changed my mind about which house to put her in.**

**Jessica Potter and the Philosopher's Stone**

**Chapter 7**

**The Sorting Hat**

The door swung open at once. A tall, black-haired witch in emerald green robes stood there. She had a very stern face and Jessica's first thoughts were that she was not someone to cross.

"The firs' years, Professor McGonagall," said Hagrid.

"Thank you, Hagrid. I will take them from here."

She pulled the door wide. The entrance hall was so big, you could've fit the whole of the Lupin's house in it. The stone walls were lit like the ones at Gringotts, the ceiling was too high to make out, and a magnificent marble staircase facing them led to the upper floors.

They followed Professor McGonagall across the flagged stone floor. Jessica could hear the drone of hundreds of voices from a door way to the right – the rest of the school must already be here – but Professor McGonagall showed the first years into a small empty chamber off the hall. They crowded in, standing very close together, peering about nervously.

"Welcome to Hogwarts," said Professor McGonagall. "The start-of-term banquet will begin shortly, but before you take your seats in the Great Hall, you will be sorted into your houses. The Sorting is a very important ceremony because, while you are here, your house will be something like your family within Hogwarts. You will have classes with the rest of your house, sleep in your house dormitory, and spend free time in your house common room. The four houses are called Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin. Each house has its own noble history and each has produced outstanding witches and wizards. While you are at Hogwarts, your triumphs will earn your house points, while any rule-breaking will lose house points. At the end of the year, the house with the most points is awarded the house cup, a great honour. I hope each of you will be a credit to whichever house becomes yours. The Sorting Ceremony will take place in a few minutes in front of the rest of the school. I suggest you smarten yourselves up as much as you can while you are waiting."

Her eyes lingered for a moment on Neville's cloak which was hooded up around his ear, and on Ron's smudged nose. Jessica nervously ran her fingers through her hair.

"I shall return when we are ready for you," said Professor McGonagall. "Please wait quiet quietly."

She left the camber. Jessica swallowed. She tried to remember anything she could about houses and sorting, but she couldn't think of one little detail that could help her. She stepped closer to Harry and Ron to hear what they were saying.

"–test, I think. Fred said it hurts a lot, but I think he was joking," said Ron. Jessica's heart dropped. A test in front of all of Hogwarts? She hadn't learnt any spells yet, would she need any? She looked around anxiously and saw that everyone else looked terrified too. No one was talking much except Hermione, who was whispering very fast about magic under her breath. Jessica tried not to listen to her.

Then something happened which made her jump about a foot in the air – several people behind her screamed.

"What the –" gasped Harry. About twenty ghosts gad just streamed through the back wall. Pearly-white and slightly transparent, they glided across the room talking to each other and hardly glancing at the first years. They seemed to be arguing. What looked like a fat little monk was saying: "Forgive and forget, I say, we ought to give him a second chance –"

"My dear Friar, haven't we given Peeves all the chances he deserves? He gives us all a bad name and you know, he's not really even a ghost – I say, what are you all doing here?"

A ghost wearing a ruff and tights had suddenly noticed the first years.

Nobody answered.

"New students!" said the Fat Frair, smiling around at them. "About to be sorted, I suppose?"

A few people nodded mutely.

"Hope to see you in Hufflepuff!" said the Frair. "My old house, you know."

"Move along now," said a stern voice. "The sorting ceremony's about to start."

Professor McGonagall had returned. One by one, the ghosts floated through the opposite wall.

"Now, form a line," Professor McGonagall told the first years "and follow me."

Feeling as though she was numb, Jessica got into line behind Hermione, with Seamus behind her, and they walked out of the chamber, back across the hall and through a pair of double doors into the Great Hall.

It was lit by thousands and thousands of candles which were floating in mid air over four long tables, where the rest of the students were sitting. These tables were laid with glittering golden plates and goblets. At the top of the hall was another long table where the teachers were sitting. Professor McGonagall led the first years up here, so that they came to a halt in a line facing the other students, with the teachers behind them. The hundreds of faces staring up at them looked like pale lanterns in the flickering candlelight. Dotted here and there among the students, the ghosts shone misty silver. Jessica looked up and saw a velvety black ceiling dotted with stars. She turned to Hermione and whispered "It's bewitched to look like the –"

"The sky outside, I read about it in _Hogwarts, a History."_ Interrupted Hermione, with the exact words Jessica had been about to say. She looked back up at the ceiling, it looked like the Great Hall simply opened on to the heavens.

Jessica quickly looked back down again as Professor McGonagall silently placed a four legged stool in front of the first years. On top of the stool, she put a pointed wizard's hat. This hat was patched and frayed and extremely dirty. Noticing that everyone was now staring at the hat, Jessica looked at it too. For a few seconds, there was complete silence. Then the hat twitched. A rip near the brim opened wide like a mouth – and the hat began to sing:

"_Oh you may not think I'm pretty,_

_But don't judge on what you see,_

_I'll eat myself if you can find_

_A smarter hat than me._

_You can keep your bowlers black,_

_Your top hats sleek and tall,_

_For I'm the Hogwarts Sorting Hat _

_And I can cap them all._

_There's nothing hidden in your head _

_The sorting hat can't see,_

_So try me on and I will tell you_

_Where you ought to be._

_You might belong in Gryffindor,_

_Where dwell the brave of heart,_

_Their daring, nerve and chivalry_

_Set Gryffindors apart;_

_You might belong in Hufflepuff,_

_Where they are just and loyal,_

_Those patient Hufflepuffs are true_

_And unafraid of toil;_

_Or yet in wise old Ravenclaw,_

_If you've a ready mind,_

_Where those of wit and learning,_

_Will always find their kind;_

_Of perhaps in Slytherin_

_You'll make your real friends,_

_Those cunning folk use any means_

_To achieve their ends._

_So try me on! Don't be afraid!_

_And don't get in a flap!_

_You're in safe hands (though I have none)_

_For I'm a thinking cap!"_

The whole burst into applause as the hat finished its song. It bowed to each of the four tables and then became quite still again.

"So we just have to try on the hat!" Jessica overheard Ron saying. "I'll kill Fred, he was going on about wrestling a troll."

Professor McGonagall stepped forward with a long scroll of parchment.

"When I call your name, you will put on the hat and sit on the stool to be sorted," she said. "Abbott, Hannah!" A pink faced girl with blonde pigtails stumbled out of line, put on the hat, which fell right over her eyes, and sat down. A moment's pause –

"HUFFLEPUFF!" shouted the hat.

The table on the right cheered and clapped as Hannah went to sit down at the Hufflepuff table. Jessica saw the ghost of the Fat Frair wave merrily at her.

"Bones, Susan!"

"HUFFLEPUFF!" shouted the hat again, and Susan scuttled off to sit next to Hannah.

"Boot Terry!"

"RAVENCLAW!" The table second from the left clapped this time; several Ravenclaws stood up to shake hands with Terry as he joined them.

"Brocklehurst, Mandy" went to Ravenclaw too, but "Brown, Lavender" became the first new Gryffindor and the table on the far left exploded with cheers; Jessica could see Ron's twin brothers catcalling.

"Bulstode, Millicent" then became a Slytherin. Perhaps it was Jessica's imagination, but they seemed like an unpleasant looking bunch. She felt sick. She remembered being picked for sports teams at her old school. She had always been the last chosen. Not because she was no good, but no one wanted Melanie to think that liked her.

"Finch-Fletchley, Justin!"

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

Sometimes, Jessica noticed, the hat shouted out the house at once, but at others it took a little while to decide. When Seamus went up, he sat on the stool for almost a whole minute before that hat declared him a Gryffindor.

"Granger, Hermione!"

Hermione almost ran to the stool and jammed the hat eagerly on her head.

"GRYFINDOR!" shouted the hat.

When Neville Longbottom was called, he fell over on his way to the stool. The hat took a long time to decide where to put him. When the hat finally shouted "GRYFFINDOR," Neville ran off still wearing it, and had to bring it to the next person; Jessica.

Jessica tried to calmly walk forwards to the stool, and the last thing she saw before the hat covered her eyes was hundreds of expectant faces looking at her, wondering if she would be joining their house.

"Hmm," said a small voice in her ear. "Difficult. Very difficult. Plenty of courage, I see. Excellent mind as well. There's talent, oh yes – and a nice thirst to prove yourself, that's interesting ... So where do I put you?"

Jessica took a deep breath and thought, "Not Slytherin, not Slytherin."

"Not Slytherin?" said the small voice. "Are you sure? You could be great, you know, and Slytherin will help you on the way to greatness, no doubt about that – no? Well then, which of your other qualities wins out? Your great mind or the deep bravery within ... Better be GRYFFINDOR!"

Jessica heard the hat shout the last word to the whole hall. She took off the hat and walked over to the cheering Gryffindor table to sit by Hermione.

She could see the high table well now. At the end nearest her sat Hagrid, who caught her eye and gave her the thumbs up. Jessica smiled back. And there, in the centre of the High Table, in a large gold chair, sat Albus Dumbledore. He wore half-moon glasses, had a long crooked nose and flowing silver hair, moustache and beard. His silver hair was the only thing in the whole hall that shone as brightly as the ghosts.

When Draco Malfoy's name was called, and he swaggered up to the stool, the hat had barely touched his platinum blonde hair when the hat shouted "SLYTHERIN!" And he went to join his friends Crabbe and Goyle at the Slytherin table.

"Potter, Harry!" called professor McGonagall. The whole hall was suddenly filled with whispers, hissing like little fires all over the hall.

"Harry Potter?"

"_The_ Harry Potter?"

Everyone was craning to get a better of Harry as the sorting hat dropped over his eyes. They all waited. Finally, after what seemed like an infinite wait, the sorting hat yelled "GRYFFINDOR!" and as Harry walked over to the Gryffindor table, he got the loudest cheer yet. The twins, Fred and George Weasley were yelling "We got Potter! We got Potter!" and Jessica thought he looked quite bewildered as a Gryffindor prefect, who looked like another Weasley, shook his hand.

Now there were only three people left to be sorted. "Turpin, Lisa" became a Ravenclaw and then it was Ron's turn. He was pale green. After barely ten seconds, the hat had shouted "GRYFFINDOR!" Jessica clapped loudly with the others as Ron collapsed into the chair opposite her. "Zambini, Blaize," was made a Slytherin, and the sorting was over. Professor McGonagall rolled up her scroll and took the sorting hat away.

Jessica looked down at her plate, it was only now that she realised how hungry she was. The pumpkin Pasties seemed like ages ago. Albus Dumbledore had got to his feet. He was beaming at the students, his armed opened wide, as if nothing could've pleased him more to see them there. "Welcome!" he said. "Welcome to a new year at Hogwarts! Before we begin our banquet, I would like to say a few words. And here they are: Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak!

Thank you!"

He sat back down. Everybody clapped and cheered. Jessica didn't know whether to laugh or not

"Is he – a bit mad?" Harry asked.

"Mad?" said the Weasley prefect airily. "He's a genius! Best wizard in the world! But he is a bit mad, yes. Potatoes Harry?"

Jessica's mouth fell open, the dishes in front of her were piled with food. She had never seen all of her favourite things on one table at the same time. There was roast beef, roast potatoes, roast chicken, pork chops and lamb chops, sausages, bacon and steak, boiled potatoes, roast potatoes, chips, Yorkshire puddings, peas, carrots, gravy, ketchup and, for some strange reason, mint humbugs. Jessica piled her plate with a little of everything, except the mint humbugs, and began to eat. It was all delicious.

"That looks good." Said the ghost in the ruff sadly, watching the students eating.

"Can't you –?" began Harry,

"I haven't eaten for nearly four thousand years," said the ghost, "I don't need to, of course, but one does miss it. I don't think I've introduced myself? Sir Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington at your service. Resident ghost of Gryffindor Tower."

"I know who you are!" said Ron suddenly. "My brothers told me all about you – you're Nearly Headless Nick!"

"I would _prefer _you to call me Sir Nicholas de Mimsey –" the ghost began stiffly, but Seamus interrupted. "_Nearly _headless? How can you be _nearly _headless?"

Sir Nicholas looked extremely miffed, as if their little chat wasn't going at all the way he wanted.

"Like _this_," he said irritably. He seized his left ear and pulled. His whole head swung off his neck and fell onto his shoulder as if it were on a hinge. Someone had obviously tried to behead him, but not done it properly. Looking pleased at the stunned looks on their faces, Nearly Headless Nick flipped his head back onto his neck, coughed and said "So – new Gryffindors! I hope you're going to help us win the house championship this year? Gryffindor have never gone so long without winning. Slytherin have got the cup six years in a row! The Bloody Baron's becoming almost unbearable – he's the Slytherin ghost."

Jessica looked over at the Slytherin table, and sitting next to Malfoy was a horrible ghost with blank staring eyes, a gaunt face and robes stained with silver blood.

"How did he get covered in blood?" asked Seamus with great interest.

"I've never asked," said Nearly Headless Nick delicately.

When everyone had eaten as much as they could, the remains of the food faded from the plates, leaving them sparkling clean as before. A moment later the puddings appeared. Blocks of ice-cream in every flavour imaginable, apple pies, treacle tarts, chocolate éclairs and jam doughnuts, trifle, strawberries, jelly...

As Jessica helped herself to apple pie, the talk turned to families.

"I'm half and half," said Seamus. "Me dad's a Muggle. Mam didn't tell him she was a witch 'til after they were married. Bit of a nasty shock for him."

The others laughed.

"What about you Neville?" asked Jessica

"Well, my gran bought me up and she's a witch," said Neville, "but the family thought I was all Muggle for ages. My Great Uncle Algie kept trying to catch me off my guard and force some magic out of me – he pushed me off the end of Blackpool pier once, I nearly drowned – but nothing happened until I was eight. Great Uncle Algie came round for tea and he was hanging me out of the upstairs window by the ankles when my Great Auntie Enid offered him a meringue and he accidently let go. But I bounced – all the way down the garden and into the road. They were all really pleased, Gran was crying, she was so happy. And you should have seen their faces when I got in here – they thought I might not be magic enough to come, you see. Great Uncle Algie was so pleased he bought me my toad."

On Jessica's other side, Hermione was talking to the Weasley prefect about lessons. This interested Jessica much more than family.

"I _do _hope they start straight away, there's so much to learn, I'm particularly interested in Transfiguration, you know, turning something into something else, of course, it's supposed to be very difficult –" she began

"Me too, I'm, also excited about Charms –" interrupted Jessica

"You'll be starting small, just matches into needles or levitating charms, that sort of thing."

"That sounds exciting,"

"Yeah, it does."

Jessica up at the Head Table. Next to a nervous-looking teacher wearing a turban, was a hook nosed teacher with greasy black hair and sallow skin. . He looked right at her, and a searing pain shot through her scar. She flinched.

"What was that?" asked Hermione.

"Nothing, just a twinge in my neck."

"Who's that teacher talking to Professor Quirrell?" asked Harry.

"Who's Professor Quirell?"

"The one with the turban, he teaches Defence Against the Dark Arts. The one next to him is Professor Snape, he teaches Potions, but everybody knows he doesn't want to –its Quirrell's job he's after" said the prefect. Jessica watched Snape for a little longer, but Snape didn't look at her again.

At last, the puddings disappeared too and Professor Dumbledore got to his feet again. The hall fell silent. "

"Ahem – just a few more words now we're all fed and watered. I have a few start of term notices for you. First years should note that the forest in the grounds is forbidden to all pupils. And a few of our older students would do well to remember that as well."

Dumbledore's twinkling eyes flashed in the direction of the Weasley twins.

"I have also been asked by Mr Filch, the caretaker, to remind you all that no magic should be used between the classes in the corridors. Quidditch trials will be held in the second week of term. Anyone interested in playing for their house teams should contact Madame Hooch. And finally, I must tell you that this year, the third floor corridor on the right-hand side is out of bounds to anyone who does not wish to die a very painful death."

Jessica smiled, but she was one of the few who did.

"He's not serious?" Harry muttered.

"Must be," said the prefect, frowning at Dumbledore. "It's odd, because he usually gives us a reason why we're not allowed to go somewhere – the forest's full of dangerous beasts, everyone knows that. I do think he might have told us prefects, at least."

"And now, before we go to bed, let us sing the school song!" cried Dumbledore. Jessica noticed the other teacher's smiles had become fixed.

Dumbledore gave his wand a little flick as if he was trying to get a fly off the end and a long golden ribbon flew out of it, which rose high above the tables and twisted itself snake-like into words.

"Everyone pick their favourite tune," said Dumbledore, "and off we go!"

And the whole school bellowed:

"_Hogwarts, Hogwarts, Hoggy Warty Hogwarts,_

_Teach us something please,_

_Whether we be old and bald_

_Or young with scabby knees,_

_Our heads could do with filling_

_With some interesting stuff,_

_For now they're bare and full of air,_

_Dead flies and bits of fluff,_

_So teach us things worth knowing,_

_Bring back what we've forgot,_

_Just do your best, we'll do the rest,_

_And learn until our brains all rot."_

Everybody finished the song at different times. At last, only the Weasley twins were left singing along to a very slow funeral march. Dumbledore conducted their last few lines with his wand and when they had finished, he one of those who clapped loudest.

"Ah, music," he said, wiping his eyes. "A magic beyond all we do here! And now, bedtime. Off you trot!"

The Gryffindors followed two prefects through the chattering crowds, out of the Great Hall and up the marble staircase. Jessica's legs were heavy again, but only because she was so tired and so full of food. They sleepily went through hidden doors and up staircases, yawning and dragging their feet, and Jessica was just wondering how much further they had to go when they came to an abrupt halt.

A bundle of walking sticks was floating in mid-air ahead of them. As one of the prefects cautiously moved forwards, they started throwing themselves at him.

"Peeves," he whispered. "A poltergeist." He raised his voice, "Peeves –show yourself."

A loud, rude noise, like air being let out of a balloon, answered.

"Do you want me to go to the Bloody Baron?"

There was a pop and a little man with wicked dark eyes and a wide mouth appeared, clutching the walking sticks.

"Oooooooh!" he said, with an evil cackle. "Ickle firsties! What fun!"

He swooped suddenly at them. They all ducked.

"Go away Peeves, or the Baron'll hear about this, I mean it!"

Peeves stuck his tongue out and vanished, dropping the walking sticks on Neville's head. They heard him zooming away, rattling coats of amour as he passed.

"You want to watch out for Peeves," said the prefect, as they set off again. "The bloody Baron's the only one who can control him, he won't even listen to us prefects. Here we are."

At the very end of the corridor hung a portrait of a very fat woman in a pink silk dress.

"Password?" she said.

"Carput Draconis," and the portrait swung forward to reveal a hole on the wall. They all scrambled through it – Neville needed a leg up – and found themselves in the Gryffindor common-room, a cosy, round room full of squishy armchairs. The girls were directed through one door to their dormitories and the boys through another. At the top of a spiral staircase – they were obviously in one of the towers – they found their beds at last: five four posters hung with deep-red curtains. Their trunks had already been bought up. Too tired to talk much, they pulled on their pyjamas and fell into bed.

Perhaps Jessica had eaten too much, because she had a very strange dream. She was wearing Professor Quirrell's turban, which kept talking to her, telling her she must transfer to Slytherin at once, because it was her destiny. She told the turban she was quite happy in Gryffindor, and didn't want to be in Slytherin; it got heavier and heavier; she tried to pull it off but it tightened painfully – and there was Malfoy, laughing at her as she struggled with it – then Malfoy turned into the hook-nosed teacher, Snape, whose laugh became high and cold – there was a burst of green light and Jessica woke, shaking. She rolled over and went back to sleep. In the morning, she couldn't remember the dream at all.


	8. The Potions Master

**Next chapter for everyone! Next week I'm going on holiday which means I won't be able to update for two weeks, so just bare with me.**

**Jessica Potter and the Philosopher's Stone**

**Chapter 8**

**The Potions Master**

Jessica noticed that Harry was being followed by whispers from the moment he stepped in to the Gryffindor common room the next day. People queuing outside classrooms stood on tip to to get a better look at him, or doubled back in the corridors to pass him. Jessica tried not to pay too much attention on him though, she was too busy trying to find her way to classes.

There were a hundred and forty-two staircases at Hogwarts: wide sweeping ones; narrow, rickety ones; some that led somewhere different on a Friday; some with a vanishing step that you had to remember to jump. There were doors that wouldn't open unless you asked politely, or tickled them in exactly the right place, and doors that weren't really doors at all, but solid walls pretending. It was also very hard to remember where anything was, because it all seemed to move around a lot. The people in the portraits kept going to see each other, and Jessica was sure the suits of armour walked around when no one was there.

The ghosts didn't help, either. It was always a nasty shock when one of them glided through a door you were trying to open. Nearly Headless Nick was happy to point the new Gryffindors in the right direction, but Peeves the Poltergeist was worth two locked doors and a trick staircase if you met him on the way to class. He would drop waste paper baskets on your head, pull rugs from under your feet, pelt you with bits of chalk or sneak up behind you, invisible, grab your nose and screech "GOT YOUR CONK!"

Even worse than Peeves, if that was possible, was the caretaker, Argus Filtch. Jessica and Hermione got on the wrong side of him on their second morning, they had tried a shortcut to get to the Great Hall for breakfast, and he caught them trying to open a door that unluckily happened to be the out-of-bounds third floor corridor door. Luckily, they were saved from detention by Professor Quirrell, who was passing.

Filtch owned a cat called Mrs. Norris, a scrawny, dust-covered creature with bulging, lamplike eyes just like Filtch's. She patrolled the corridors alone. Break a rule in front of her, put just one toe out of line, and she'd whisk off for Filch, who'd appear, wheezing, two seconds later. Filch knew the secret passageways of the school better than anyone (besides Fred and George Weasley) and could pop up as suddenly as any of the ghosts. The students all loathed him, and it was the ambition of many to kick Mrs. Norris.

And then, when you managed to find them, there were the lessons themselves. They had to study the night skies through their telescopes at midnight every Wednesday and learn the names of different stars and planets. Three times a week they went out to the greenhouses behind the castle to study Herbology, with a dumpy little witch called Professor Sprout, where they learnt how to take care of all the strange plants and fungi and find out what they were used for.

Easily the most boring lesson was History of Magic, which was the only class taught by a ghost. Professor Binns was very old indeed when he fell asleep beside the staffroom fire and got up the next morning to teach, leaving his body behind him. Binns droned on and on while they scribbled down notes, and Jessica and Hermione seemed to be the only ones who paid enough attention to tell the difference between Emeric the Evil and Uric the Oddball.

Professor Flitwick, the Charms teacher, was a tiny little wizard who had to stand on a pile of books to see over his desk. At the start of their first lesson he took the register, and when he reached Harry's name, he toppled over with a squeak , out of sight. Professor McGonagall was again different. Jessica had been quite right to assume she wasn't a teacher to cross. Strict and clever, she gave them a talking to when they had sat down in her first class.

"Transfiguration is one of the most complex and dangerous magic you will learn at Hogwarts," she said. Anyone messing around in my class will leave and not come back. You have been warned."

Then she changed her desk into a pig and back again. They were all very impressed and were very excited to started, but soon realised they weren't going to be turning furniture into animals for a long time. After making a lot of complicated notes, they were each given a match and started trying to turn it into a needle. By the end of the lesson, only Jessica and Hermione had made any difference to their matches; Professor McGonagall showed the others how they had both gone silver and pointy and gave Jessica and Hermione one of her rare smiles.

The class everyone had been looking forward to was Defence Against the Dark Arts, but Quirrell's lessons turned out to be a bit of a joke. His classroom smelt strongly of garlic, which everyone said was to ward off a vampire he'd met in Romania and was afraid would be coming back to get him someday. His turban, he told them, had been given to him by an African prince as a thank-you for getting rid of a troublesome zombie, but Jessica didn't really believe this story. For one thing, when Seamus had asked him how he'd fought off the zombie, Quirrell went pink and began to talk about the weather; for another, she had noticed a funny smell hanging around the turban, and the Weasley twins insisted it was full of garlic too, so that Quirrell was protected wherever he went.

On Friday morning, Jessica and Hermione were able to get down to breakfast in record time, as they had found the way two days previously. After eating and chatting for a few minutes, the post arrived. Jessica looked up, and amongst the hurricane of owls swooping towards the tables, she spotted a small barn owl. It swooped down and landed in front of her.

"Hello Breeze, have you got a letter for me?" asked Jessica, offering the bird some of her food. Breeze was the family owl, and was white with beautiful grey and orange wings and head, specked with brown. Jessica carefully took a letter off Breeze's leg and opened the envelope. Inside was a letter from Remus, she read:

_Hello Jess,_

_Have you settled in at Hogwarts? I hope you've made a few friends by now. What house are you in? I'd love if you were in Gryffindor, but I hope wherever you are, your happy. The house seems lonely without you, it doesn't have the same life. _

_Hoping to hear from you soon, _

_Remus_

Jessica smiled, and flipped over the parchment and wrote a quick reply:

_Remus,_

_I'm in Gryffindor, and I already have a few friends: Hermione Granger (she's muggle born and so far we're both top in the classes we've been to!)I also made friends with Ron Weasley and guess who... _the _Harry Potter! (We met on the train, but neither are as good friends as Hermione)I miss you too, but I'll see you at Christmas, right?_

_Jessica_

She sent Breeze back off with her reply, and got up with Hermione to head to their first class: Potions. The potions lessons took place in the dungeons. It was colder here than the rest of the castle and would have been creepy enough without the pickled animals floating in the glass jars all around the walls.

Snape, like Flitwick, started class by taking the register, and like Flitwick, he paused at Harry's name.

"Ah, yes," he said softly, "Harry Potter. Our new – _celebrity."_

Draco Malfoy and his friends Crabbe and Goyle sniggered behind their hands. Snape finished calling the names and looked up at the class. His eyes were black like Hagrid's, but they had none of Hagrid's warmth. They were cold and empty and made you think of dark tunnels.

"You are here to learn the subtle science and exact art of potion-making," he began. He spoke in barely more than a whisper, but they caught every word – like Professor McGonagall, Snape was able to keep the class quiet without effort. "As there is little foolish wand-waving here, many of you will hardly believe this is magic. I don't expect you will really understand the beauty of the softly simmering cauldron with its shimmering fumes, the delicate power of the liquids that creep through human veins, bewitching the mind, ensnaring the senses... I can teach you how to bottle fame, brew glory, even stopper death – if you aren't as big a bunch of dunderheads I usually have to teach."

More silence followed this speech, Hermione and Jessica looked at each other with excitement. They were both eager to prove they weren't dunderheads.

"Potter!" said Snape suddenly. "What do I get if I added powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?"

_A sleeping potion so powerful that it's called the Draught of Living Death. _Thought Jessica as her hand shot up into the air. Hermione's hand went up with hers.

"I don't know, sir," said Harry.

Snape's lips curled into a sneer.

"Tut tut – clearly fame isn't everything."

He ignored Jessica and Hermione's hands.

"Let's try again. Potter, where would you look if I told you to find me a bezoar?"

_In the stomach of a goat. _Jessica stretched her hand into the air as far as it would go, as Hermione did the same.

"I don't know, sir."

"Thought you wouldn't open a book before coming, eh Potter?"

Snape was still ignoring Jessica's quivering hand.

"What is the difference, Potter, between monkshood and wolfsbane?"

_Trick question. They are the same plant. _Now Jessica was standing up, her hand stretching towards the dungeon ceiling.

"I don't know," said Harry quietly. "I think Hermione and Jessica do, though, why don't you ask them?"

A few people laughed. Snape however, was not pleased.

"Sit down he snapped at Hermione and Jessica. "For your information, Potter, asphodel and wormwood make a sleeping potion so powerful it is known as the Drought of Living Death. A bezoar is a stone taken from the stomach of goat and will save you from most potions. As for monkshood and wolfsbane, they are the same plant, which also goes by the name of aconite. Well? Why aren't you copying all that down?"

There was a sudden rummaging for quills and parchment. Over the noise, Snape said, "and a point will be taken from Gryffindor House for your cheek, Potter."

Things didn't improve for the Gryffindors over the rest of the lesson. Snape put them into pairs and set them to mixing up a simple potion to cure boils. He swept around in his long black cloak, watching them weigh dried nettles and crush snake fangs, criticising almost everyone except for Malfoy, whom he seemed to like. He was just telling everyone to look at the perfect way Malfoy had stewed his horned slugs when clouds of acid green smoke and a loud hissing filled the dungeon. Neville had somehow managed to melt Seamus' cauldron into a twisted blob and their potion was sweeping across the stone floor, burning holes in people's shoes. Within seconds, the whole class were standing on their stools while Neville, who had been drenched in the potion when the cauldron collapsed, moaned in pin as angry red boils sprang up all over his arms and legs.

"Idiot boy!" snarled Snape, clearing the spilled potion with a wave of his wand. "I suppose you added the porcupine quills before taking the cauldron off the fire?"

Neville whimpered as boils started to pop up all over his nose.

"Take him up to the hospital wing," Snape spat at Seamus. Then he rounded on Harry and Ron, who had been working next to Neville.

"You – Potter – why didn't you tell him not to add the quills? Thought he'd make you look good if he got it wrong, did you? That's another point you've lost for Gryffindor."

As they climbed the steps out of the dungeon, an hour later, Jessica's sprits were low.

"Our potion was just as good as Malfoy's, but Professor Snape didn't even look at it." She said to Hermione, she was annoyed that Harry had lost those two points for Gryffindor.

"I know, once Neville melted Seamus' cauldron, he went on about "Malfoy's cauldron's intact, he's _such_ a good potion maker, top of the class." And if we'd done something right, "no, the way Malfoy over here's done it is the proper way." It was infuriating." said Hermione, with a perfect impression of Snape.

At three to five, Jessica noticed Harry and Ron leaving the castle.

"Where are you two going?" she asked.

"Down to Hargid's want to come?" replied Harry.

"Sure."

The three of them left the castle and walked over the grounds to a wooden hut. Harry knocked on the door and they heard a frantic scrambling from inside and several loud barks. Then Hagrid's voice rang out, "_Back, _Fang – _back._"

Hagrid's big hairy face appeared in the crack as he pulled the door open.

"Hang on," he said. "_Back _Fang."

He let them in, struggling to keep a hold on the collar of an enormous black boarhound.

There was one room inside. Hams and pheasants were hung from the ceiling, a copper pot was boiling on the open fire and in the corner stood a massive bed with a patchwork quilt over it.

"Make yourselves at home," said Hagrid, letting go of Fang, who bounded straight at Ron and started licking his ears. Like Hagrid, Fang was clearly not as fierce as he looked.

"This is Ron," Harry told Hagrid, who was pouring boiling water into a large teapot and putting rock cakes on to a plate.

"Another Weasley, eh?" said Hagrid, glancing at Ron's freckles. "I spent half me life chasin' yer twin brothers away from the forest."

Jessica avoided the rock cakes, (Remus had warned her about Hagrid's cooking) but Harry and Ron had one each and it looked like the cakes were almost breaking their teeth. They pretended to enjoy them as they talked to Hagrid about their first lessons. Fang had rested his head on Harry's knee and was drooling all over his robes.

The three of them were delighted to hear Hagrid call Filch "That old git."

"An' as fer that cat, Mrs Norris, I'd like ter introduce her to Fang sometime. D'yeh know, every time I go up teh the school, she follows me everywhere? Can't get rid of her – Filch puts her up to it."

Harry told Hagrid about the potions lesson with Snape. Hagrid told him not to worry about it, that Snape liked hardly any of the students.

"But he seemed to really _hate _me."

"Rubbish!" said Hagrid. "Why should he?"

"How's yer brother Charlie?" Hagrid asked Ron. "I liked him a lot – great with animals."

Jessica thought Hagrid may have changed the subject on purpose. While Ron told Hagrid all about Charlie's work with dragons in Romania, Jessica looked over Harry's shoulder at a piece of paper he had picked up from under a tea cosy on the table. It was a clipping from the _Daily Profit:_

_GRINGOTTS BREAK-IN LATEST_

_Investigations continue into the break-in at Gringotts on 31 July, widely believed to be the work of Dark wizards or witches unknown._

_Gringotts' goblins today insisted that nothing had been taken. The vault that was searched had in fact been emptied the same day._

"_But we're not telling you what was in there, so keep your noses out if you know what's good for you." Said a Gringotts' spokesgoblin this afternoon._

"Hagrid!" said Harry, "that Gringotts break-in happened on my birthday! It might've been happening while we were there!" Jessica quickly paid attention, _July 31 was her birthday too,_ it was probably a coincidence, there were probably thousands of people with the same birthday as her.

As Jessica, Harry and Ron walked back up to the castle for dinner, Jessica thought that the lessons she'd had already had hadn't given her as much to think about as tea with Hagrid. Why was Harry so interested in the Gringotts break-in? Did it matter that they shared birthdays? And was there something that Hagrid knew about Snape that he wouldn't tell them?


	9. The Midnight Duel

**Hi everyone! I'm back from my holiday in Australia and I'll try to update the next two or three chapters really quickly to make up for lost time.**

**Jessica Potter and the Philosopher's Stone**

**Chapter Nine**

**The Midnight Duel**

Jessica never thought she could really hate someone until she met Draco Malfoy. Still, first year Gryffindors only had Potions with the Slytherins, so they didn't have to put up with him mush. Or at least, they didn't until they spotted a notice pinned up in the Gryffindor common room which made them all groan. Flying lessons would start on Thursday – and Gryffindor and Slytherin would be learning together.

"Typical," said Harry darkly. "Just what I always wanted. To make a fool of myself on a broomstick in front of Malfoy."

Jessica was surprised, Harry seemed to doubt himself all the time.

"You won't make a fool of yourself," she said.

"Yeah, I know Malfoy's always going on about how good he is at Quidditch, but I bet that's all talk." Added Ron.

Malfoy certainly did talk about flying a lot. He complained loudly about first years never getting on the house Quidditch teams and told long, boastful stories which always seemed to end with him narrowly escaping muggles in helicopters. He wasn't the only one though: the way Seamus told it, he'd spent most of his childhood zooming around the countryside on his broomstick. Ron would tell anyone that would listen about the time when he'd almost hit a hang-glider on Charlie's old broom. Even Jessica had fond memories of flying through the woods near her house. She loved the feeling of dodging the trees as she soared through the air, the wind whipping back her hair.

"Hermione, look! Flying lessons are this Thursday, aren't you excited?"said Jessica as Hermione arrived by the notice board.

"Excited is one word, terrified is another, I've never flown. I'm muggle-born, remember?" said Hermione.

"Come on, it's really easy, you'll catch on fast."

"I don't know it seems awfully complicated..."

"It's really not, I just wish we didn't have to have our lessons with the Slytherins."

At breakfast on Thursday, Hermione began to give everyone flying tips she'd read out of a library book Jessica had helped her find called _Quidditch Through the Ages_. Neville hung onto her every word, he seemed desperate for anything to help him keep hold of his broomstick as he was very clumsy with both feet on the ground and Jessica shuddered to think what would happen when he was in the air. However Hermione's lecture was interrupted by the arrival of the mail.

A barn owl bought Neville a small package from his grandmother. He opened it excitedly and showed them a glass ball the size of a large marble, which was filled with white smoke.

"It's a Remembrall!" he explained. "Gran knows I forget things – this tells you if there's something you've forgotten to do. Look, you hold it tight like this and if it turns red – oh..." his face fell, because the Remembrall had suddenly glowed scarlet, "... you've forgotten something."

Neville was trying to remember what he'd forgotten when Draco Malfoy, who had been passing by the Gryffindor table, snatched the Remembrall out of his hand. Harry and Ron jumped to their feet. They looked ready to fight him, but Professor McGonagall, who could spot trouble quicker than any teacher in the school, was there in a flash.

"What's going on?"  
>"Malfoy's got my Remembrall, Professor."<p>

Scowling, Malfoy quickly dropped the Remembrall back on the table.

"Just looking," he said, and he sloped away with Crabbe and Goyle behind him.

At three-thirty that afternoon, Jessica, Hermione and the other Gryffindors hurried down the front steps into the grounds for their first flying lesson. It was a clear, breezy day and the grass rippled under their feet under their feet as they marched down the sloping lawns towards a smooth lawn on the opposite side of the grounds to the forbidden forest, whose trees were swaying darkly in the distance. The Slytherins were already there, and so were twenty broomsticks lying in neat lines on the ground.

Their teacher, Madam Hooch, arrived. She had short, grey hair and yellow eyes like hawk.

"Well, what are you all waiting for?" she barked. "Everyone stand by a broomstick. Come on, hurry up."

Jessica looked down at her broom. It was very old and battered.

"Stick your right hand over your broom," called Madam Hooch from up the front, "and say "Up!""

"UP!" everyone shouted.

Jessica's broom quivered a little and rose a foot off the ground, but it one of the few that had risen. Neville's hadn't moved at all, and Hermione's had simply rolled on the ground. Harry's however had shot right to his hand.

"Up." Repeated Jessica and her broom moved the rest of the distance to her hand.

Madam Hooch showed them how to correctly mount their brooms without slipping off the end, and walked up and down the rows correcting their grips. Jessica was very happy when Madam Hooch told Malfoy he'd been doing it wrong for years.

"Now, when I blow my whistle, you kick off the ground, hard," said Madam Hooch. "Keep your brooms steady, rise a few feet and then come straight back down by leaning forwards slightly. On my whistle – three – two –"

But Neville, nervous, jumpy and frightened of being left on the ground, pushed off hard before the whistle had touched Madam Hooch's lips.

"Come back, boy!" she shouted, but Neville was rising straight up like a cork shot out of a bottle – twelve feet – twenty feet. Jessica saw his scared white face look down at the ground falling away, saw him gasp, slip sideways off the broom and –

WHAM – a thud and a nasty crack and Neville lay face down on the grass in a heap. His broomstick was still rising higher and higher and started to drift lazily towards the forbidden forest and out of sight. Madam Hooch was bending over Neville, her face as white as his.

"Broken wrist," she muttered. "Come on, boy – it's all right, up you get."

She turned to the rest of the class.

"None of you is to move while I take this boy to the hospital wing! You leave those brooms where they are or you'll be out of Hogwarts before you can say "Quidditch". Come on, dear"

Neville, his face tear-streaked, clutching his wrist, hobbled off with Madam Hooch, who had her arm around him.

No sooner were they out of earshot, than Malfoy burst into laughter.

"Did you see his face, the great lump?"

The other Slytherins joined in.

Shut up, Malfoy," snapped Parvati Patil.

"Ooh, sticking up for Longbottom?" said Pansy Parkinson, a hard-faced Slytherin girl, "Never thought _you'd _like fat little cry babies, Parvati."

"Look!" said Malfoy, darting forward and snatching something out of the grass, "it's that stupid thing Longbottom's Gran sent him."

The Remembrall glittered in the sun as he held it up.

"Give that here, Malfoy," said Harry quietly. Everyone stopped talking to watch.

Malfoy smiled nastily.

"I think I'll leave it somewhere for Longbottom to collect – how about – up a tree?"

"Give it _here!" _Harry yelled, but Malfoy had leapt onto his broomstick and taken off. He hadn't been lying, he _could _fly well – hovering level with the topmost branch of an oak he called,

"Come and get it, Potter!"

Harry grabbed his broom.

"_No!" _shouted Hermione.

"Madam Hooch told us not to move – you'll get everyone into trouble," said Jessica.

Harry ignored them. He mounted the broom and kicked against the ground and up, up he soared, his robes whipped around him in the wind. He pulled up even higher people were screaming and gasping, Ron let out an admiring whoop. Harry turned his broomstick to face Malfoy in mid-air. Malfoy looked stunned.

"Give it here," Harry called, "or I'll knock you off that broom!"

"Oh, yeah?" said Malfoy, trying to sneer, but sounding worried. Harry shot towards Malfoy like a javelin and a few people clapped.

"He's going to get in big trouble or hurt if he doesn't come down," said Jessica to Hermione.

"I know! Do you have any idea how many points he'll lose for us?"

"Harry! It's not worth it! Just come back down!" yelled Jessica.

Harry ignored her.

"No Crabbe and Goyle to save you up here, Malfoy," called Harry.

Frustrated, Jessica called again, "just leave him Harry!"

When her words again had no affect on Harry, she got onto her own broomstick and kicked off the ground. She shot upwards and was engulfed by the familiar joyful sensation that came with flying as her hair was whipped out of her face by the wind. She drew level with Harry and Malfoy.

"Called for some backup, have you Potter? Can't you stand facing me alone?" sneered Malfoy.

"Actually, I'm here to get Harry_ and _you back on the ground before anyone else gets hurt!" said Jessica, "besides, you aren't supposed to be up here anyway."

"Sorry Jessica, but I'm not going down until I get that Remembrall back!"

"Catch it if you can then!" shouted Malfoy, and he threw the glass ball high into the air and streaked back towards the ground.

Jessica saw, almost in slow motion, the ball rise into the air and then start to fall. Harry went into a steep dive to try to catch it. _I must be crazy_ thought Jessica as she shot after him, trying to make sure she could catch him if it all went wrong. Weaving around him during his dive, Jessica became worried as he approached the ground. Jessica pulled up but quickly swooped back to the ground to dismount. When she looked back at Harry, he was toppling onto the ground, with the Remembrall safely clutched in his fist.

"HARRY POTTER!"

Professor McGonagall was running towards them. Harry stood up, trembling.

"_Never_ – in all my time at Hogwarts –"

Professor McGonagall was almost speechless with shock, and her glasses flashed furiously "–how _dare_ you – might have broken your neck – "

"It wasn't his fault Professor –"

"Be quiet Miss Patil –"

"But Malfoy –"

"That's _enough,_ Mr Weasley. Miss Lupin, I'll speak to you later. Potter, follow me, now."

Jessica caught sight of Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle's triumphant faces as Harry left in McGonagall's wake as she strode to the castle.

Jessica's stomach dropped. Was Harry about to be expelled? Would she be too?

"Jessica, you really shouldn't have done that," said Hermione

"I know, now I'll probably be expelled. Well, I could've been killed, that's probably worse."

Hermione giggled, "I suppose it is. Look! Here comes Madam Hooch, I wonder if she knows you, Harry and Draco were flying."

Madam Hooch walked back to the front of class once again.

"Settle down. Now, I'm sure you all heard me earlier when I clearly instructed that no one was to move while I was gone. However three of you seem to not have heard me, as I was informed by Professor McGonagall. But she told me that she would deal with those three herself, so we will just have to continue normally." She said. So they spent the rest of the lesson hovering, landing and eventually actually flying on their broomsticks. Jessica couldn't focus. She was too worried about being expelled.

After the flying lesson Jessica was just as nervous, Harry still wasn't back, had he been expelled? Was she going to be next? As she walked slowly back towards the castle with Hermione, these thoughts engulfed her. No sooner than she had stepped into the entrance hall, Professor McGonagall's voice hit her ears.

"Miss Lupin, may I see you for a moment?"

Jessica walked over to where she was waiting.

"Yes Professor?"

"Follow me if you please." She said as she began to stride off with Jessica following her. They arrived in a classroom empty apart from Harry and a burly fifth year boy who looked very pleased with himself.

"Wood, this is Jessica Lupin. Jessica, this is Oliver Wood, the captain if the Gryffindor Quidditch team."

"Err, hi," said Jessica, wondering why she was being introduced to Oliver.

"We've had a discussion between the three of us here, and it sounds like you are a rather good flyer," said Oliver, "so how would you and Harry like to be seekers for the Gryffindor team?"

"But isn't there only one seeker in Quidditch?" asked Jessica.

"Yes, but because your first years, we're going to give you half the games each."

"Well then, I'd love to."

"Great, do you have a broom?"

"Yeah, I've got a Cleansweep Seven." Said Jessica

"Great, what about you Harry?"

Sounding slightly embarrassed, Harry said, "no, I don't have one."

"OK then. We'll have to get him a decent broom, Professor – a Nimbus Two Thousand or a Cleansweep Seven, I'd say."

"I shall speak to Professor Dumbledore and see if we can't bend the first year rule. Heaven knows, we need a better team than last year. _Flattened _in that last match against Slytherin, I couldn't look Severus Snape in the face for weeks..."

Professor McGonagall peered sternly over her glasses at Harry and Jessica.

"I want to hear that you two are training hard, or I may change my mind about punishing you."

Then she suddenly smiled and looked to Harry.

"Your father would have been proud," she said, "he was an excellent Quidditch player himself."

"You're _kidding._"

It was dinner time. Jessica had just finished telling Hermione what had happened when she had gone off with McGonagall. Hermione hadn't touched her food throughout the story, and seemed to have forgotten about it.

"_Seekers?_" she said. "But first years aren't even allowed broomsticks. You two must be the youngest players in about –"

"– a century," said Jessica excitedly, "Wood told me. We start training next week. But don't tell anyone, because Wood wants to keep it a secret."

Fred and George now entered the hall, spotted Jessica and hurried over.

"Congratulations," said Fred quietly, "Wood told us – we're on the team too –"

"– Beaters," said George, "We're going to win that cup this year. You and Harry must be really good, Wood was practically skipping when we saw him just now."

"Anyway, have to go welcome Harry to the team too, don't we?"  
>"See you around Jessica."<p>

"OK, see you guys" and off they went.

"Aren't they just hilarious?" said Jessica as the twins moved over to Harry.

"Yes, but they are a bit immature, they're always losing points for Gryffindor."

"I know, especially when we have to go along and try to regain the points before they lose even more."

Hermione and Jessica began to finally eat their food when they noticed Malfoy taking to Harry and Ron, so they did a little eavesdropping.

"– braver now you're back on the ground and you've got your little friends with you," said Harry coolly. Crabbe and Goyle cracked their knuckles and scowled.

"I'd take you on anytime on my own," said Malfoy. "Tonight, if you want. Wizard's duel. Wands only – no contact. What's the matter? Never heard of a wizard's duel before, I suppose?"

"Of course he has," said Ron, wheeling around, "I'm his second, who's yours?"

Malfoy looked at Crabbe and Goyle, sizing them up.

"Crabbe," he said. "Midnight all right? We'll meet you in the trophy room, that's always unlocked."

Jessica turned back to Hermione.

"I can't believe they're going to sneak out!" she said.

"I know, we'd better made sure they don't."

They both went to sort out Ron and Harry

"Excuse me," said Hermione, interrupting their conversation.

"Can't a person eat in this place?" said Ron.

Jessica ignored him and spoke to Harry.

"We couldn't help overhearing what you and Malfoy were saying –"

"Bet you could," Ron muttered.

" – and you _mustn't _go wandering around school at night, think of the points you'll lose Gryffindor if your caught, and you're bound to be.It's really very selfish of you."

"And it's really none of your business," said Harry.

"Goodbye," said Ron.

Offended, Jessica and Hermione walked away.

"They wouldn't listen!"

"Well, we'll just have to wait for them tonight and make sure they listen."

All the same, it wasn't what you'd call the perfect end to the day, Jessica thought as she lay awake in bed, hearing her roommates fall asleep one by one. She checked the off in her head as they slipped into their dreams; Parvati Patil, Lavender Brown and Fay Dunbar.

"Quarter past eleven," she whispered to Hermione, "We'd better go."

They pulled on their dressing gowns and crept down into the common room to wait for Harry and Ron. They each picked a chair, and watched the staircase that came from the boy's dormitories. Finally, at half past eleven, Harry and Ron walked into the common room.

"I can't believe you're going to do this Harry," said Jessica, flicking on a lamp.

"_You!_" said Ron furiously. "Go back to bed!"

"I almost told you brother," Hermione snapped, "Percy – he's a prefect, he'd put a stop to this."

"Come on," Harry said to Ron. He pushed open the portrait of the Fat Lady and climbed through the hole. But Hermione and Jessica weren't giving up that easily. They followed Ron through the portrait hole.

"Don't you _care_ about Gryffindor, do you _only_ care about yourselves, I don't want Slytherin to win the house cup and you'll lose all the points I got from Professor McGonagall for knowing about Switching Spells," hissed Hermione.

"Go away."

"All right, but we warned you, you just remember that when you're on the train home tomorrow, you're so –" began Jessica, turning back to the portrait to get back in, but she couldn't. The Fat Lady had gone on a night-time stroll and they were locked out of Gryffindor tower.

"Now what are we going to do?" she said.

"That's your problem," said Ron, "We've got to go, we're going to be late."

They hadn't even reached the end of the corridor when Jessica and Hermione caught up with them.

"We're coming with you," said Hermione.

"You are _not."_

"D'you think we're going to stand out here and wait for Filch to catch us? If he finds all four of us I'll tell him the truth, that we were trying to stop you and Jessica can back me up."

"You've got some nerve –" said Ron loudly.

"Shut up! Both of you!" said Harry sharply, "I heard something."

It was a sort of snuffling.

"Mrs Norris?" breathed Ron, squinting through the dark.

It wasn't Mrs Norris. It was Neville. He was curled up on the floor, fast asleep, but jerked suddenly awake when they crept nearer.

"Thank goodness you found me! I've been out here for hours, I couldn't remember the password to get in to bed."

"Keep your voice down, Neville. The password's 'Pig Snout' but it won't help you now, the Fat Lady's gone off somewhere." said Jessica.

"How's your arm?" asked Harry.

"Fine," said Neville, showing them his arm, "Madam Pomfrey mended it in about a minute."

"Good – well, look, Neville, we've got to be somewhere, we'll see you later –"

"Don't leave me!" said Neville, scrambling to his feet, "I don't want to stay here alone, the Bloody Baron's been twice already."

Ron looked at his watch and glared furiously at Jessica, Hermione and Neville.

"If any of you get us caught, I'll never rest until I learn that Curse of the Bogies Quirrell told us about and use it on you."

Hermione opened her mouth, probably to tell him exactly how to use the Curse of the Bogies, but Harry hissed at her to be quiet and beckoned them all forward.

They flitted along corridors striped with bars of moonlight from the high windows. At every turn Jessica expected to see Filch or Mrs Norris, but they were lucky. They sped up a staircase to the third floor and tip toed into the trophy room. Malfoy and Crabbe weren't there yet. The crystal trophy shelves glittered where the moonlight caught them. Cup, shields plates and statues winked silver and gold in the darkness. They edged along the walls, keeping their eyes on the doors at either end of the room. The minutes crept by.

"He's late, maybe he's chickened out," Ron whispered.

Then a noise in the next room made them jump. Harry began to raise his wand when someone began to speak – and it wasn't Malfoy.

"Sniff around, my sweet, they might be lurking in a corner."

It was Filch speaking to Mrs Norris. Horror-struck, Jessica froze until Harry waved his hand right in front of her face, snapping her to her senses. They scurried silently towards the door away from Filch's voice. Neville's robes had barely whipped around the corner when they heard Filch enter the trophy room.

"They're in here somewhere," they heard him mutter, "probably hiding."

"This way!" Harry mouthed and, petrified, they began to creep down a long gallery full of suits of armour. They could hear Filch getting nearer. Neville suddenly let out a frightened squeak and broke into a run – he tripped, grabbed Ron around the waist and the pair of them toppled into a suit of armour. The clanging and crashing were enough to wake the whole castle.

"RUN!" Harry yelled and the five of them sprinted down the gallery, nit looking back to see whether Filch was following – they swung around the doorpost and galloped down one corridor then another, Harry in the lead, and Jessica behind him losing any track of where they were going – they had ripped through a tapestry and found themselves in a hidden passageway, hurtled along it and came out near their Charms classroom, which they knew was miles from the trophy room.

"I think we've lost him," Harry panted, leaning against the wall. Neville was bent double, wheezing and spluttering

"I – _told_ – you," Hermione gasped, clutching the stitch in her chest, "I – told – you."

"We've got to get back to Gryffindor tower," said Ron, "quickly as possible."

"Malfoy tricked you," Jessica said to Harry. "You do realise that don't you? Malfoy was never going to show up – Filch knew someone would be in the trophy room, he must've been tipped off by Malfoy."

"Let's go," said Harry.

It wasn't going to be that simple. They hadn't gone more than a dozen paces when a doorknob rattled and something came shooting out of a classroom in front of them.

It was Peeves. He caught sight of them and gave a squeal of delight.

"Shut up, Peeves – please – you'll get us thrown out."

Peeves cackled.

"Wandering around at midnight, Ickle Firsties? Tut, tut, tut. Naughty, naughty you'll get caught."

"Not if you don't give us away, Peeves, please."

"Should tell Filch, I should," said Peeves in a saintly voice, but his eyes glittered wickedly. "It's for your own good, you know."

"Get out of the way," snapped Ron, taking a swipe at Peeves – this was a big mistake.

"STUDENTS OUT OF BED!" Peeves bellowed, "STUDENTS OUT OF BED DOWN THE CHARMS CORRIDOR!"

Ducking under Peeves they ran for their lives, right to the end of the corridor where they slammed into a door – and it was locked.

"This is it!" Ron moanws, as they pushed helplessly at the door, "We're done for! This is the end!"

They could hear footsteps, Filch running as fast as he could towards Peeves' shouts.

"Move over," said Jessica. She grabbed Harry's wand, tapped the lock and whispered, "_Alohomora!"_

The lock clicked and the door swung open – they piled through it, shut it quickly and pressed their ears against it, listening.

"Which way did they go, Peeves?" Filch was saying. "Quick, tell me."

"Say 'please'."

"Don't mess me about, Peeves, now_ where did they go?"_

"Shan't say nothing if you don't say please," said Peeves in his annoying sing-song voice.

"All right – _please."_

"NOTHING! Ha haaa! Told you I wouldn't say nothing if you didn't say please! Ha ha! Haaaaaa!" And they heard the sound of Peeves whooshing away and Filch cursing in rage.

"He thinks this door is locked," Harry whispered, "I think we'll be OK – get _off, _Neville! _What?"_

Harry had turned around, and so did Jessica – they saw exactly what. For a moment Jessica was sure she'd walked into a nightmare – this was too much on top of everything that had happened so far. They weren't in a room, as she had supposed. There were in a corridor. The forbidden corridor on the third floor. And now they knew why it was forbidden. They were looking into the eyes of a monstrous dog, a dog which filled the whole space between ceiling and floor. It had three heads. Three pairs of rolling, mad eyes; three noses, twitching and quivering in their direction; three drooling mouths, saliva hanging in slippery ropes from yellowish fangs. It was standing quite still on what looked like a trap door in the floor, all six eyes staring at them, and Jessica knew the only reason they weren't dead was that their sudden appearance had taken it by surprise, but it was quickly getting over that, there was no mistaking those thunderous growls meant.

Harry grabbed the door handle to open the door and Jessica knew what he was thinking – between Filch and death, she would choose Filch. They fell backwards – Harry slammed the door shut, and they ran, they almost flew, back down the corridor. Filch must have hurried off to look for them somewhere else because they didn't see him anywhere, but they hardly cared – all they wanted to do was put as much space as possible between them and that monster. They didn't stop running until they reached the portrait of the Fat Lady on the seventh floor.

"Where on earth have you been?" she asked, looking at their dressing gowns hanging off their shoulders and their flushed, sweaty faces.

"Never mind that – pig snout, pig snout," panted Harry, and the portrait swung forward. They scrambled into the common room and collapsed, trembling into armchairs.

It was a while before any of them said anything. Neville, indeed looked like he'd never speak again.

"What do you think they're doing, keeping a thing like that locked up in a school?" said Ron finally, "If any dog needs exercise, that one does.

Hermione regained her breath, "You don't use your eyes, any of you, do you?" she snapped. "Didn't you see what it was standing on?"

"The floor?"Harry suggested. Ï wasn't looking at its feet, I was too busy with the heads."

"No, _not_ the floor," said Jessica, "it was standing on a trapdoor. It's guarding something."

Hermione stood up.

"I hope you're pleased with yourselves. We could have all been killed – or worse, expelled. Now if you don't mind, I'm going to bed."

Jessica followed her up, leaving the boys in the common room.

"I hope that was either sarcasm, or we now have an inside joke." Said Jessica light-heartedly as they entered the dormitory.

"A bit of both really, but the boys will never know will they?" smiled Hermione.

As Jessica climbed into bed, she had so much on her mind. What was the dog guarding? Hogwarts was surely the safest place to hide something, besides Gringotts. Jessica thought she and her friends may have just found where the mystery contents of vault seven hundred and thirteen were.


	10. Halloween

**Hey guys! Time for the next chapter! School's just gone back so I'll go back to just updating on the weekends again. Anyway, enjoy chapter 10!**

**Jessica Potter and the Philosopher's Stone**

**Chapter Ten**

**Halloween**

Malfoy looked like he couldn't believe his eyes when he saw that Harry and Ron were still at Hogwarts the next day, looking tired but perfectly cheerful. Indeed, by next morning Jessica and Hermione thought that meeting the three-headed dog had given them a lot to think about, but it was a horrible adventure that they didn't want to repeat. Hermione had now completely stopped talking to Harry and Ron, and Jessica was thinking about following her lead, but really wanted to see what they thought the three-headed dog may be guarding.

"Well, when Hagrid and I went to collect it, it was in a grubby little bag. It's about two inches long." Said Harry when Jessica asked him

"I bet it's either really valuable or really dangerous," said Ron.

"Or both," said Harry and Jessica simultaneously.

"Well, I'd better go find Hermione, she's probably mad that I'm talking to you two," said Jessica.

"She's a bit, bossy isn't she?" said Ron.

"Oh, I guess she's fine... anyway, see you."

"Bye Jessica."

Although Jessica joined Hermione in avoiding the boys, she still occasionally talked to them when Hermione wasn't looking. They were trying to think of ways to get back at Malfoy, but they couldn't come up with any ideas until the post came about a week later.

As the owls flooded into the Great Hall as usual, everyone's attention was caught at once by two long, thin packages carried by six large screech owls each. Jessica was just as interested as everyone else to see what was in the two packages when the owls swooped down and dropped one in front of her, and the other in front of Harry. They had hardly fluttered away when another owl dropped two envelopes in front of her on top of the package. She opened one of the envelopes first and it was from Remus.

_Dear Jessica,_

_Professor McGonagall wrote to say you had been put on the Gryffindor Quidditch team. Congratulations! I'm so proud of you. Here's you broomstick, Professor McGonagall told me to send it as soon as I could, do I hope it gets there in time, and good luck, Quidditch is an intense sport and I just know you'll love it._

_Remus._

The second envelope contained a message from Professor McGonagall.

_DO NOT OPEN THE PARCEL AT THE TABLE._

_It contains your Cleansweep Seven broomstick, but I don't want anyone knowing you've got a broomstick or they'll all want one. Oliver Wood will meet you and Harry tonight on the Quidditch pitch at seven o'clock for your first training session._

_ Professor M. McGonagall_

Jessica had a hard time holding in her glee as she handed the note to Hermione to read.

"So it arrived? That means you really will be seeker?"Hermione said, distracted, "that's really great, Jess."

They left the Great Hall quickly so Jessica could unwrap her broomstick when they met Harry and Ron with their way blocked by Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle. Hermione stormed straight past them and upstairs, but Jessica stopped to see what the problem was.

"That's a broomstick," said Malfoy, throwing Harry's wrapped parcel to him with a look of jealousy and spite on his face. "You'll be in for it this time, Potter, first years aren't allowed them." He looked at Jessica, "Oh, do you have one too? You're both going to get it."

"Harry hasn't just got any old broom," blurted Ron, "it's a Nimbus Two Thousand."

"A Nimbus Two Thousand!" said Jessica in surprise, "wow, that even makes my Cleansweep Seven seem ordinary."

"I know, what did you say you've got at home, Malfoy, a Comet Two-Sixty?" Ron grinned at Harry and Jessica. "Comets are flashy, but they're not in the same league as the Nimbus."

"What would you know about it, Weasley, you couldn't afford half the handle," Malfoy snapped back. "I suppose you and your brothers have to save up twig by twig."

Before Ron could answer, Professor Flitwick appeared at Malfoy's elbow.

"Not arguing, I hope?" he squeaked.

"Potter and Lupin have been sent broomsticks, Professor," said Malfoy quickly.

"Yes, yes that's right," said Professor Flitwick, beaming at Harry and Jessica.

"Professor McGonagall told me about all about the special circumstances. And what models are they?"

"Harry's got a Nimbus Two Thousand, and I've got a Cleansweep Seven, sir."

"And it's really thanks to Malfoy that we have them," added Harry.

Jessica, Harry and Ron headed upstairs smothering their laughter at Malfoy's obvious rage and confusion.

"Well, it's true," Harry chortled as they reached the top of the marble staircase, "If he hadn't stolen Neville's Remembrall we wouldn't be on the team…"

"So I suppose you think that's a reward for breaking rules?"

Came an angry voice just behind them. They had just walked past Hermione, who had been waiting at the top of the staircase, looking disapprovingly at Harry.

"I thought you weren't speaking to us?" said Harry

"Yes, don't stop now," said Ron, "it's doing us so much good."

"Jessica, I thought _you_ weren't talking to them either. I think it's time for you to decide who your real friends are; them or me." Said Hermione coldly.

"What? I um, I can't make a decision like that."

"I see how it is," said Hermione, and she walked off with her nose in the air.

Jessica had a hard time keeping her mind on her lessons that day. It kept wandering up to where her Cleansweep Seven was lying under her bed, or to the Quidditch pitch, where she imagined her and Harry zooming through the cool evening air diving and spinning to try to catch the golden snitch. She was also desperately trying to telepathically apologise to Hermione (it didn't seem to be working). None of these thoughts were very productive, especially when it was already hard to concentrate in some classes. She inhaled her dinner that evening without noticing what she was eating and then rushed upstairs with Harry and Ron to unwrap their broomsticks.

"Where should we do it? If we get them out in the common room, everyone will crowd around and we won't get any space." Said Jessica as the hurried up the staircase.

"You can come to our dormitory, no one will be there for ages."

"Cool, I'll go get me broomstick, just wait one minute." And so Jessica scooted ahead and ran up to her dormitory and just as she came back into the common room, Ron and Harry were just coming through the portrait hole.

"Wow," Ron sighed as the Nimbus Two Thousand rolled onto Harry's bedspread. It looked amazing; it was sleek and shiny, with a mahogany handle, a long tail of neat, straight twigs and _Nimbus Two Thousand_ written in gold near the top.

"That's spectacular Harry, you're really lucky. Are you sure you two want to see mine?"

"Yes, of course we do," said Harry.

Jessica carefully opened her parcel and put her own Cleansweep next to Harry's Nimbus. It also had a mahogany handle, but it wasn't as shiny and it had a few scratches along it from minor crashes I n the woods. The tidy tail of twigs was slightly shorter than the one on the Nimbus Two Thousand, and near the top of the handle in black writing it said _Cleansweep Seven_.

As it neared seven o'clock, Harry and Jessica walked down to the Quidditch pitch in the dusk. Jessica had never been inside the stadium before. Hundreds of seats were raised in stands around the pitch so that the spectators were high enough to see what was going on. At either end of the pitch were three goalposts. They reminded Jessica of the plastic sticks that muggle children use to blow bubbles though, except fifty feet tall. Eager to fly again, both Harry and Jessica mounted their brooms and kicked off the ground. The cool evening air was wonderful as they swooped in and out of the goalposts and sped up and down the pitch.

"Hey, you two, come down!"

Oliver Wood had arrived. He was carrying a large wooden crate under his arm. Jessica and Harry landed next to him.

"Very nice," said Wood, his eyes glinting. "I see what McGonagall meant … you're both naturals. I'm just going to each you the rules this evening, then you'll be joining team practice three times a week."

He opened the crate. Inside were four different sized balls.

"Right," said Wood, "Quidditch is easy to understand, even if it's not too easy to play. Does either of you already know the rules?"

"Yes, I do," said Jessica, "Seven players: a keeper, three chasers, two beaters and a seeker, four balls: the Quaffle, two Bludgers and the Golden Snitch. The chasers try to put the Quaffle through one of the hoops for ten points, the keeper tries to stop them, the beaters hit the Bludgers at the other team and the seeker tries to catch the Golden Snitch for a hundred and fifty points." She recited all this without breathing.

"Yes, that's basically it. Did you catch that Harry?"

"Err, no," said Harry.

Oliver quickly repeated it to Harry, who kept stopping him to make sure he remembered it all.

"So what balls are which?" asked Harry.

"This one," said Wood, holding up a bright red ball, "is the Quaffle. The Chasers try to get this through the goalposts past the Keeper, that's me."

"OK, got that, what about the others?"

"I'll show you now. Take these

He then passed Jessica and Harry a small club each that looked a bit like a small baseball bat.

"These two are the Bludgers." He showed them two identical jet-black balls that were slightly smaller than the Quaffle. They looked like they were straining against the straps that held them in the box.

"Stand back," Wood warned. He bent down and freed one of the Bludgers.

At once the Bludger rose high in the air and then pelted at Harry's head. He swung at it with the bat and sent it zig-zagging away into the air – it zoomed around their heads and then shot at Jessica. She swung – hard. There was a loud bang and Bludger shot off towards the other end of the pitch. It zoomed back and Oliver dived on it and managed to pin it to the ground.

"That was a great shot, Jessica," panted Wood as he forced the struggling Bludger back into the crate and strapping it down safely. "The Blugders rocket around trying to knock players off their brooms. That's why you have two Beaters on each team – the Weasley twins are ours – it's their job to protect our side from the Bludgers and try to knock them to the other team. So – you think you got all that?"

"I think so," said Harry.

"Very good," said Wood.

"Er – have the Bludgers ever killed anyone?"

"Never at Hogwarts. We've had a couple of broken jaws but nothing worse than that. Now, the last member of the team is the Seeker. That's you two. And you don't have to worry about the Quaffle or Bludgers – "

"– Unless they crack my head open."

"Don't worry, the Weasleys are more than a match for the Bludgers – I mean they're like a pair of human Bludgers themselves."

Wood reached into the crate and took out to the fourth and last ball. Compared to the Quaffle and Bludgers, it was tiny, about the size of a large walnut. It was bright gold and had little fluttering silver wings.

"_This_," said Wood, "is the Golden Snitch, and it's the most important ball of the lot. It's very hard to catch because it's so fast and difficult to see. It's the Seeker's job to catch it. You've got to weave in and out of the Chasers, Beaters, Bludgers and Quaffle to get it before the other team's Seeker, because whichever Seeker catches the Snitch wins their team an extra hundred and fifty points, so they nearly always win. That's why Seekers get fouled so much. A game of Quidditch only ands when the Snitch is caught, so it can go on for ages – I think the record id three months, they had to keep bringing on substitutes so the Players could get some sleep.

'Well, that's it – any questions?"

Both Harry and Jessica shook their heads. Jessica understood exactly _how_ to play; it was doing it that was going to be the problem.

"We won't practise with the Snitch yet," said Wood, carefully shutting it back in the crate, "it's too dark, we might lose it. Let's try you out with a few of these."

He pulled a bag of ordinary golf balls out of his pocket and a few minutes later, the three of them were up in the air, and Wood was throwing the golf balls as hard as he could in every direction for Harry and Jessica to catch. They didn't miss a single one. Wood was delighted. After half an hour, night had really fallen and they couldn't carry on.

"That Quidditch cup'll have our name on it this year," said Wood happily as they trudged back up to the castle. "I wouldn't be surprised if you turn out better than Charlie Weasley, and he could've played for England if he hadn't gone off chasing Dragons."

Perhaps it was that she was so busy, what with Quidditch practise three evenings a week on top of all her homework, but Jessica couldn't believe it when she realised she'd already been at Hogwarts two months. The castle was really starting to feel just like home. Her lessons too, were becoming more interesting now they had mastered the basics.

On Hallowe'en morning they woke to the delicious smell of pumpkin cake wafting through the corridors. Even better, Professor Flitwick announced in Charms that he thought they were ready to start making objects fly, something they had been dying to do since they'd seen him make Neville's toad zoom around the classroom. Professor Flitwick put the class into pairs to practice. Jessica's partner was Neville. Harry was with Seamus, but Ron was with Hermione. It was hard to tell whether Ron or Hermione was angrier about this. Jessica hadn't spoken to her since the day her and Harry's broomsticks arrived.

"Now, don't forget that nice wrist movement we've been practising!" squeaked Professor Flitwick, perched on top of his pile of books as usual. "Swish and flick, remember, swish and flick. And saying the magic words properly is very important, too – never forget Wizard Baruffio, who said 's' instead of 'f' and found himself on the floor with a buffalo on his chest."

It was very difficult. Jessica and Neville swished and flicked, but the feather they were supposed t be sending skyward just lay on the desk. Jessica looked over to see if anyone else had managed it. Seamus had become impatient and was prodding the feather with his wand when the feather set itself alight and Harry had to put it out with his hat. Ron, at the next table, wasn't having much more luck.

"_Wingardium Leviosa!" _he shouted, waving his long arms like a windmill.

"You're saying it wrong," Jessica heard Hermione snap. "It's Wing-_gar-_dium Levi-_o _-sa, make the 'gar' nice and long."

"You do it, then, if you're so clever," Ron snarled.

Hermione rolled up the sleeves of her gown, flicked her wand and said "_Wingardium Leviosa!"_

Their feather rose off the desks and hovered about four feet above their heads.

"Oh, well done!" cried Professor Flitwick, clapping. "Everyone see here, Miss Granger's done it!"

Determined not to let Hermione get too much praise, Jessica turned back to her own feather and raised her voice so Hermione would hear, "_Wingardium Leviosa!_" Jessica's feather rose into the air, slightly higher than Hermione's. She sent her a small smirk.

"Excellent! Miss Lupin too! Five points to Gryffindor!" said a very excited Professor Flitwick.

Ron was in a very bad temper by the end of class

"It's no wonder no one can stand her," he said as they pushed their way into a crowded corridor. "I'm glad you showed her up Jessica. She's a nightmare, honestly."

Someone knocked into Jessica as they hurried past her. It was Hermione. Jessica caught a glimpse of her face – and was startled to see she was in tears.

"I think she heard you," said Harry.

"So?" said Ron, but he looked a bit uncomfortable. "She must have noticed she's got no friends."

Jessica felt a little guilty about making Hermione feel bad, but decided to get over t, Hermione did sort of deserve it, didn't she?

Hermione didn't turn up for the next class and wasn't seen all afternoon. On their way to the Great Hall for the Hallowe'en feast, Harry, Jessica and Ron overheard Pavarti Patil telling her friend Lavender Brown that Hermione was crying in the girls' toilets and wanted to be left alone. Ron looked still more awkward at this.

"Oh, I feel terrible! I'm going to go comfort her," said Jessica

"Why? She wants to be left alone, I say it's for our good as well as hers if we stay out of her way," said Ron.

"No, I'm going, she's going to miss the feast and it's because of us."

Jessica headed straight to the girls' bathroom without waiting for a response from Ron or Harry. She slowed down as she approached the door to the bathroom, now she was nervous, what on earth would she say? _No, this is silly, I'm a Gryffindor, and I can pluck up the courage to talk to a friend, _She thought.

Jessica took a deep breath, opened the door and entered the bathroom.

Inside, there was only one closed cubicle, and Jessica could hear fait sobs issuing from under the door.

"Hermione? Is that you?" said Jessica.

"Go away," sobbed Hermione.

"No, I won't go away. Hermione, I'm so sorry for ignoring you and trying to show you up in Charms, and I'll bet four Galleons that Ron feels really sorry for what he said too."

"I don't care, he was right. I must be so mean."

"He wasn't thinking when he said that, you aren't that kind of person, Hermione. Ron is the one here who's mean. He's just a liar, and pathetic and alone in life."

"Yeah, I guess that's true."

"I know it is. Now do you want to come out here so we can get you cleaned up and get down to the feast?"

The door slowly opened, a slightly pale, red-eyed Hermione stepped out. She gave a weak smile. "Thanks Jess, you really are a great friend."

"No, I'm not, a good friend wouldn't stop talking to her best friend and then let her cry in the bathrooms for a whole afternoon. But I'm sorry, can we be friends again?"

"Of course, on one condition: I need a really comforting hug after all that – "

She didn't even get to finish her sentence because Jessica near tackled her in a huge bear hug.

Jessica's ears pricked up at a low grunting and shuffling of something huge.

"What's that?" she said.

"What's what?"

"That noise, it sounds like something's coming this way. And that's when they smelt it. A foul scent reached Jessica's nostrils, a mixture of old socks and the kind of public toilet no one seems to clean.

They could hear muffled voices coming from outside in the corridor, and Jessica took a couple of cautious steps forward. She gasped and stumbled back to the wall, for a horrible-looking creature had just lumbered through the doorway. Twelve feet tall, its skin was a dull, granite grey, its great lumpy body like a boulder with its small bald head perched on top like a coconut. It had short legs thick as tree trunks with flat, horny feet. The smell coming from it was incredible. It was holding a huge wooden club, which dragged along the floor because its arms were too long.

The door slammed shut behind it, and Jessica heard the click of the lock. She wanted to scream, but who she opened her mouth, no sound came out. Hermione however, seemed completely capable of using her voice and let out a high, petrified scream. The ugly creature made straight towards them. It was knocking sinks off the wall as it went. Suddenly, the door was flung open, and Ron and Harry came running in. Jessica came back to her senses.

"What is this thing?" she yelled at Harry and Ron.

"It's a troll, it somehow got into the castle," said Harry, "confuse it! Make heaps of noise!"

As Ron and Harry started to throw things and yell at the troll to confuse it, Jessica tried to pull Hermione out of the troll's way, but it was no use, she was paralysed against the wall. Instead, Jessica tried to keep the troll away along with the boys. She threw taps at its head, and shouted insults, but it hardly had any effect.

Harry then did something that was both very brave and very stupid: he took a great running jump and fastened his arms around the troll's neck from behind. The troll couldn't feel Harry hanging there, but even a troll will notice if you stick a long bit of wood up its nose, and Harry's wand had still been in his hand when he'd jumped – it had gone straight up the troll's nostrils.

Howling with pain, the troll twisted and flailed its club, with Harry hanging on for dear life; any second the troll was going to rip him off or catch him with a terrible blow with the club. Hermione had sunk to the floor in fright; Ron then pulled out his own wand and yelled the first spell that came into his head: "_Wingardium Leviosa!" _

The club flew suddenly out of the troll's hand, rose high, high up into the air, turned slowly over – and dropped, with a sickening crack, onto its owner's head. The troll swayed on the spot and then fell flat on its face, with a thud that made the whole room tremble.

Harry got to his feet, out of breath and shaking. Ron was standing there with his wand still raised staring at what he'd done. Jessica was slowly helping Hermione up. It was her who spoke first.

"Is it – dead?"

"I don't think so," said Harry, "I think it's just been knocked out."

He bent down and pulled his wand out of the troll's nose. It was covered in what looked like grey, lumpy glue.

"Burgh – troll bogies."

He wiped it on the troll's trousers.

A sudden slamming and loud footsteps made the four of them look up. They hadn't realised what a racket they had been making, but of course, someone must have heard the crashes and the troll's roars. A moment later, Professor McGonagall had come bursting into the room closely followed by Snape, with Quirrel bringing up the rear. Quirrel took one look at the troll, let out a faint whimper and sat quickly down on a toilet, clutching his heart.

Snape bent over the troll. Professor McGonagall was looking at Ron and Harry. Jessica had never seen her so angry. Her lips were white.

"What on earth were you thinking of?" she said, with cold fury in her voice. "You're lucky you weren't killed. Why aren't you in you dormitory?" Jessica wished Ron would put his wand down. Then a small voice came out of the shadows.

"Please, Professor McGonagall – they were looking for me."

"Miss Granger!"

"Us, Professor, they were looking for us," interrupted Jessica.

"Yes, I went looking for the troll because I – "

"– We thought we could deal with it on our own – you know, because we've read all about them." Jessica couldn't believe what was going on, Hermione Granger telling a downright lie to a teacher? And her, Jessica covering for her, lying just the same? Ron dropped his wand in shock, he was obviously thinking the same way.

"If Ron and Harry hadn't found us, we'd be dead by now. Harry stuck his wand up its nose and Ron knocked it out with its own club. They didn't have time to come and fetch anyone. It was about to finish us off when they arrived," said Hermione.

"Well – in that case …" said Professor McGonagall, staring at the four of them, "Miss Granger, Miss Lupin, you foolish girls, how could you think of tackling a mountain troll on your own?"

Hermione and Jessica hung their heads.

"Five points will taken from Gryffindor for this," said Professor McGonagall. "I'm very disappointed in you. If your not hurt at all, you'd better get off to Gryffindor tower. Students are finishing the feast in their Houses."

They left.

"That could've gone much better, I admit. But I'm surprised Professor McGonagall believed our little story," said Jessica.

"Probably because we've never lied before. I do hope Ron and Harry don't too much trouble."

"Yeah, but they came to help us out, so they may even gain Gryffindor some points."

"I hope so."

They had reached the portrait of the Fat Lady.

"Pig Snout," they said and entered.

The common room was packed and noisy. Everyone was eating the food that had been sent up

"Hang on, lets wait for Harry and Ron."

They only had to wait a few minutes before the portrait swung back, and Ron and Harry clambered through the hole. They came over to Jessica and Hermione. There was a very embarrassed silence. Then, none of them looking at each other, they all said "Thanks," and hurried to get plates.

But from that moment on, the four of them became friends. There are some things you can't share without ending up liking each other, and knocking out a twelve-foot mountain troll is one of them.


	11. Quidditch

Hello everyone, have fun reading chapter eleven. By the way, good for you if you caught onto my Taylor Swift reference in the last chapter. Enjoy!

**Jessica Potter and the Philosopher's Stone**

**Chapter Eleven**

**Quidditch**

As they entered November, the weather turned icy cold. The mountains around the school became icy grey and the lake like chilled steel. Every morning the ground was covered in frost. Hagrid could be seen from the upstairs windows defrosting broomsticks on the Quidditch pitch, bundled up by a big moleskin coat, rabbit fur gloves and enormous beaver skin boots.

The Quidditch season had begun. On Saturday, either Harry or Jessica would be playing in their first match after weeks training: Gryffindor versus Slytherin. If Gryffindor won, they would move up into second place in the house championship.

Hardly anyone had seen Harry and Jessica play because Wood had decided that, as their secret weapons, they should be kept, well, secret. But somehow word got out one of them would be playing Seeker, and Jessica didn't know what was worse – people saying that she'd do great, or people saying they'd run around under her with a mattress.

Jessica was glad she had Hermione back as a friend. She didn't think Harry could've gotten through their homework with all the last minute Quidditch practices Wood was making them do (she however managed to keep herself up to date.). At the end of the last practise before the match, Wood asked Harry and Jessica who would be doing which matches, and Harry came up with a great idea, "we could play paper, scissors, rock. The winner can have the pick of two matches."

"What's paper, scissors, rock?" asked Jessica.

"It's a muggle hand game, here I'll show you." He quickly went over the rules. Jessica was pretty sure she understood. After several draws, Harry won the Slytherin and Ravenclaw games, and so Jessica would be playing the second game against Hufflepuff. Her nerves subsided, knowing she wouldn't be playing that weekend.

Hermione had become a bit more relaxed about breaking the rules after the troll incident. The day before the first Quidditch match the four of them were out in the freezing courtyard during break, and she had conjured up a bright blue flame that could be carried around in a jam jar. They were standing with their backs to it, getting warm, when Snape crossed the yard. Jessica noticed at once he was limping. The Harry, Ron, Jessica and Hermione moved closer together to block the flame from view; they were sure it wouldn't be allowed. Unfortunately, something about their guilty faces caught Snape's eye. He limped over. He hadn't seen the fire, but he seemed to be looking for a way to tell them off anyway.

"What's that you've got there, Potter?"  
>It was <em>Quidditch Through the Ages<em>. Harry showed him.

"Library books are not to be taken outside the school," said Snape. "Give it to me. Five points from Gryffindor."

"He's just made that rule up," Harry muttered angrily as Snape limped away. "Wonder what's wrong with his leg?"

"Dunno, but I hope it's really hurting him," said Ron bitterly.

The Gryffindor common room was very noisy that evening. Harry, Ron, Jessica and Hermione sat together next to a window. Hermione was checking Harry's Charms homework, and Jessica was checking Ron's. They never let them copy (how would they learn?), but they would still correct their answers when the checked it through. Harry seemed restless. "I'm going to see if Snape will give _Quidditch Through the Ages_ back," he said, standing up.

"Better you than me," they all said. Jessica had just finished checking Ron's homework when Harry came back, panting and out of breath.

"Did you get it?" asked Ron, "what's the matter?"

"When I went to get it, Snape was in the staffroom with Filch. He was holding his robes up, and one of his legs was all bloody and mangled. Filch was handing him bandages and Snape said "how are you supposed to keep your eyes on three heads at once?" and then he saw me." Harry said in a low whisper, "You know what this means? He tried to get past the three-headed dog at Halloween! That's where he was going when we saw him – he's after whatever it's guarding! And I'd bet my broomstick _he_ let that troll in, to make a diversion!"

Hermione's eyes were wide.

"No – he wouldn't," she said. "I know he's not very nice, but he wouldn't try to steal something Dumbledore was keeping safe."

"Honestly, Hermione, you think all the teachers are saints or something," snapped Ron, "I'm with Harry. I wouldn't put anything past Snape. But what's he after? What's that dog guarding?"

The next morning dawned very bright and cold. The Great Hall was full of the delicious smell fried sausages and the cheerful chatter of everyone looking forward to a good Quidditch match.

"You've got to eat some breakfast, Harry," said Jessica.

"I don't want anything."

"Just a bit of toast," weeded Hermione.

"I'm not hungry."

"Harry, you need your strength," said Seamus. "Seekers are always the ones who get nobbled by the other team.

"Thanks, Seamus," said Harry.

By eleven o'clock the whole school seemed to be out in the stands around the Quidditch pitch. Many students had binoculars. The seats may be raised high in the air but it was still difficult to see sometimes.

After wishing Harry good luck, Jessica, Ron and Hermione met up with Neville, Seamus and Dean Thomas, another Gryffindor boy who shared Harry's dormitory. As a surprise for Harry, they had painted a large banner on one of the sheets Scabbers had ruined. It said _Potter for President_ and Dean, who was good at drawing, had done a large Gryffindor lion underneath. Then Hermione and Jessica had performed a tricky little charm so that the paint flashed different colours.

The Gryffindor team came out onto the pitch accompanied by loud cheers. Harry looked like his legs might give out under him he was shaking so much.

Madam Hooch was refereeing. She was waiting in the middle of the pitch for both teams, her broom in her hand.

"Now I want a nice fair game, all of you," she said once they were all gathered around her. She seemed to be talking particularly to the Slytherin captain, Marcus Flint, a sixth year.

"Mount your brooms, please." Madam Hooch gave a loud blast on her silver whistle. Fifteen brooms rose into the air. They were off.

"And the Quaffle is taken immediately by Angelina Johnson of Gryffindor – what an excellent Chaser that girl is, and rather attractive too – "

"JORDAN!"

"Sorry, Professor."

The Weasley twin's friend, Lee Jordan, was doing the commentary for the match, closely watched by Professor McGonagall.

"And she's really belting along up there, a neat pass to Alicia Spinnet, a good find of Oliver Wood's, last year only a reserve – back to Johnson and - no, Slytherin have taken the Quaffle, Slytherin Captain Marcus Flint gains the Quaffle and off he goes – Flint flying like an eagle up there – he's going to sc– no, stopped by an excellent move from Gryffindor Keeper Wood and Gryffindor take the Quaffle – that's Chaser Katie Bell of Gryffindor there, nice dive around Flint, off up the field and – OUCH – that must have hurt, hit in the back of the head by a Bludger – Quaffle taken by Slytherin – that's Adrian Pucey speeding off towards the goal posts, but he's blocked by a second Bludger – sent his way by Fred or George Weasley, can't tell which – nice play by the Gryffindor Beater, anyway, and Johnson back in possession of the Quaffle, a clear field ahead and off she goes – she's really flying – dodges a speeding Bludger – the goal posts are ahead – come on, now, Angelina – Keeper Bletchley dives – misses – GRYFFINDOR SCORE!"

Gryffindor cheers filled the clod air, with howls and moans from the Slytherins.

"Budge up there, move along."

"Hagrid!"

Ron, Hermione and Jessica squeezed together to give Hagrid space to join them

"Bin watchin' from me hut," said Hagrid, patting a large pair of binoculars around his neck, "But it isn't the same as bein' in the crowd. No sign of the Snitch yet, eh?"

"Nope," said Ron. "Harry hasn't had much to do yet."

"Kept outta trouble, though, that's somethin'," said Hagrid, raising his binoculars and peering skywards at the speck that was Harry.

Way above them, Harry was gliding over the game, squinting about for some sign of the Snitch. This was part of Wood's game plan.

"Keep out of the way until you catch sight of the Snitch," Wood had said. "We don't want you attacked before you have to be."

Once, Harry had seen a glint of gold, but it was only a reflection off one of the Weasley's wristwatches, and once a Bludger decided to come pelting his way, more like a cannonball than anything, but Harry dodged it and Fred Weasley came chasing after it.

"All right there, Harry?" he had time to yell before he beat the Bludger furiously towards Marcus Flint.

"Slytherin in possession," Lee Jordan was saying, "Chaser Pucey ducks two Bludgers, two Weasleys and Chaser Bell and speeds towards the – wait a moment – was that the Snitch?"

A murmur ran through the crowd as Adrian Pucey dropped the Quaffle, too busy looking over his shoulder at the flash of gold that had passed his left ear.

Harry saw it. He dived downwards after the streak of gold. Slytherin Seeker Terence Higgs had seen it too. Neck and neck they hurtled towards the Snitch – all the Chasers seemed to have forgotten what they were supposed to be doing as they hung in mid-air to watch.

Harry was faster than Higgs – he could see the little round ball, wings fluttering, darting up ahead – he put on an extra burst of speed – WHAM! A roar of rage echoed from the Gryffindors below – Marcus Flint had blocked Harry on purpose and Harry's broom span off course, Harry holding on for dear life.

"Foul! Screamed the Gryffindors.

Madam Hooch spoke angrily to Flint and then ordered a free shot at the goal posts from Gryffindor. But in all the confusion, of course, the Golden Snitch had disappeared from sight again.

Down in the stands, Dean Thomas was yelling, "Send him off, ref! Red card!"

"This isn't football, Dean," Ron reminded him. "You can't send people off in Quidditch – and what's a red card?"

But Hagrid was on Dean's side.

"They oughta change the rules, Flint coulda knocked Harry outta the air."

Lee Jordan was finding it difficult not to take sides.

"So – after that obvious and disgusting bit of cheating –"

"Jordan!" growled Professor McGonagall.

"I mean, after that open and revolting foul –"

"_Jordan, I'm warning you –_"

"All right, all right. Flint nearly kills the Gryffindor Seeker, which could happen to anyone, I'm sure, so a penalty to Gryffindor, taken by Spinnet, who puts it away, no trouble, and we continue play, Gryffindor in possession."

It was as Harry dodged another Bludger which went spinning dangerously past his head that it happened. His broom gave a sudden, frightening lurch. For a split second, he was sure going to fall. He gripped the broom tightly with both his hands and knees. He'd never felt anything like that.

It happened again. It was as though the broom was trying to buck him off. But Nimbus Two Thousands did not suddenly decide to buck their riders off. Harry tried to turn back towards the Gryffindor goal posts; he had half a mind to ask Wood to call a time out – and than he realised that his broom was completely out of his control. He couldn't turn it. He couldn't direct it at all. It was zig-zagging through the air and every now and then making violent swishing movements which almost unseated him.

Lee was still commentating.

"Slytherin in possession – Flint with the Quaffle – passes Spinnet – passes Bell – hit in the face by a Bludger, hope it broke his nose – only joking, Professor – Slytherin score – oh no…"

The Slytherins were cheering. No one seemed to have noticed that Harry's broom was behaving strangely. It was carrying him slowly higher, away from the game, jerking and twisting as it went.

"Dunno what Harry thinks he's doing," Hagrid mumbled. He stared through his binoculars . "If I didn't know any better, I'd say he'd lost control of his broom … but he can't have…"

Suddenly, people were pointing up at Harry all over the stands. His broom had started to roll over, with him only just managing to hold on. Then the whole crowd gasped. Harry's broom had given a wild jerk and Harry swung off it. He was now dangling from it, holding on with only one hand.

"Did something happen to him when Flint blocked him?" Seamus whispered.

"Can't have," Hagrid said, his voice shaking. "Can't nothing interfere with a broomstick except dark magic – no kid could do that to a Nimbus Two Thousand."

At these words, Hermione seized Hagrid's binoculars, but instead of looking up at Harry, she started looking frantically at the crowd. Jessica had an idea of what she was looking for.

"Who's doing it?" she asked.

"Snape – look." said Hermione, handing Jessica the binoculars.

Snape was in middle of the stands opposite them. He had his eyes fixed on Harry and was muttering non-stop under his breath.

"What's he doing?" Ron asked as he looked through the binoculars.

"He's doing something – jinxing the broom," said Jessica.

"What do we do?"

"Leave it to me," said Hermione.

Before Ron could say another word, Hermione had disappeared. Ron turned the binoculars back on Harry. His broom was vibrating so hard, it was almost impossible for him to hold on much longer. The whole crowd were on their feet, watching, terrified, as the Weasleys flew up to try and pull Harry to safety onto one of their brooms, but it was no good – every time they got near him, the broom would jump higher still. They dropped lower and circled below him, hoping to catch him if he fell. Marcus Flint seized the Quaffle and scored five times without anyone noticing.

"Come on, Hermione," Ron muttered desperately.

Hermione had fought her way across to the stand where Snape stood and was now racing along the row behind him; she didn't even stop to say sorry as she knocked Professor Quirrell head first into the row in front. Reaching Snape, she crouched down, pulled out her wand and whispered a few, well-chosen words. Bright blue flames shot from her wand on to the hem of Snape's robes.

It took perhaps thirty seconds for Snape to realise that he was on fire. A sudden yelp told Hermione she had done her job. Scooping the fire off him into a little jar in her pocket she scrambled back along the row – Snape would never know what had happened.

It was enough. Up in the air, Harry was suddenly able to clamber back on to his broom.

"Neville, you can look!" Ron said. Neville had been sobbing into Hagrid's jacket for the last five minutes.

Harry was speeding towards the ground when the crowd saw clap his hand over his mouth as though he was about be sick – he hit the pitch on all fours – coughed – and something gold fell into his hand.

"I've got the Snitch!" he shouted, waving it above his head, and the game ended in complete confusion.

"He didn't _catch_ it, he nearly _swallowed _it," Flint was still howling twenty minutes later, but it made no difference, but it made no difference – Harry hadn't broken any rules and Lee Jordan was still happily shouting the result – Gryffindor had won by one hundred and seventy points to sixty. Jessica heard none of this, though. She, Harry, Hermione and Ron were back in Hagrid's hut, Hagrid was making them a nice, strong cup of tea.

"It was Snape," Ron was explaining, "We saw him. He was cursing your broomstick, muttering, he wouldn't take his eyes off you."

"Rubbish," said Hagrid, who hadn't heard a word of what had gone on in the stands next to him. "Why would Snape do somethin' like that?"

Jessica, Harry, Ron and Hermione looked at each other, wondering what to tell him. Harry decided on the truth.

"I found out something about him," he told Hagrid. "He tried to get past that three-headed dog at Halloween. It bit him. We think he was trying to steal whatever it's guarding."

Hagrid dropped the teapot.

"How do you know about Fluffy?" he said.

"_Fluffy_?"

"Yeah – he's mine – bought him off a Greek chappie I met in the pub las' year – I lent him to Dumbledore to guard the –"

"Yes?" said Harry eagerly.

"Now, don't ask me any more," said Hagrid gruffly. "That's top secret, that is."

"But Snape's trying to _steal_ it."

"Rubbish," said Hagrid again. "Snape's a Hogwarts teacher, he'd do nothin' of the sort."

"So why'd he just try and kill Harry?" cried Hermione.

The afternoon's events seemed to have changed her mind about Snape.

"I know a jinx when I see one, Hagrid, I've read all about them! You've got to keep eye contact, and Snape wasn't blinking at all, I saw him!"

"I'm tellin' yeh, yer wrong!" said Hagrid hotly. "I don' know why Harry's broom acted like that, but Snape wouldn' try an' kill a student! Now, listen to me, all three of yeh – yer meddlin' in things that don' concern yeh. It's dangerous. You forget that dog, an' you forget what it's guardin', that's between Professor Dumbledore an' Nicolas Flamel –"

"Aha!" said Harry, "So there's someone called Nicolas Flamel involved, is there?"

Hagrid looked furious with himself.


	12. Christmas

Hey guys, I'm surprised how fast I got that last chapter done, but I hope the quality didn't suffer. I (finally) got a Pottermore on the day it opened to the public, so that's been a major distraction. Oh well, it's fun and I'm still updating this story, so where's the harm in that? Enjoy chapter twelve everyone.

**Jessica Potter and the Philosopher's Stone**

**Chapter Twelve**

**Christmas**

Christmas was coming. One morning in mid-December, Hogwarts woke to find itself covered in several feet of snow. The lake froze solid and the Weasley twins were punished for bewitching several snowballs so that they followed Professor Quirrell around, bouncing off the back of his turban. The few owls that managed to battle their way through the stormy sky to deliver post had to be nursed back to health by Hagrid before they could fly off again.

No one could wait for the holidays to start. While the Gryffindor common room and the Great Hall had roaring fires, the draughty corridors had become icy and a bitter wind rattled the windows in the classrooms. Worst of all were Professor Snape's classes in the dungeons, where their breath rose in a mist before them and they kept as close as possible to their hot cauldrons.'

"I do feel sorry," said Draco Malfoy, one potions class, "for all those people who have to stay at Hogwarts for Christmas because they're not wanted at home."

He was looking at Harry as he spoke. Crabbe and Goyle chuckled. Jessica, who was helping Harry measure out powdered spine of lemon fish, told him to ignore them. Malfoy had been even more unpleasant than usual since the Quidditch match. Disgusted that Slytherin had lost, he had tried to get everyone laughing at how a wide-mouthed tree frog would be replacing Harry as Seeker next. Then he'd realised that nobody found this funny, because they were all so impressed at the way Harry had managed to stay on his bucking broomstick. So Malfoy, jealous and angry, had gone back to taunting Harry about having no proper family.

It was true that Harry wasn't going back to Privet Drive for Christmas. Professor McGonagall had come round the week before, making a list of Students who would be staying for the holidays, and Harry had signed up at once. Ron and his brothers were also staying, because Mr and Mrs Weasley were going to Romania to visit Charlie.

When they left the dungeons at the end of Potions, they found a large fir tree blocking the corridor ahead. Two enormous feet sticking out at the bottom and a loud puffing sound told them that Hagrid was behind it.

"Hi Hagrid, want any help?" Ron asked, sticking his head through the branches.

"Nah, I'm all right, thanks, Ron."

"Would you mind moving out of the way?" came Malfoy's cold drawl from behind them. "Are you trying to earn some extra money, Weasley? Hoping to be gamekeeper yourself when you leave Hogwarts, I suppose – that hut of Hagrid's must seem like a palace compared to what your family's used to."

Ron dived at Malfoy just as Snape was coming up the stairs.

"WEASLEY!"

Ron let go of Malfoy's robes.

"He was provoked, Professor Snape," said Hagrid, sticking his huge hairy face out from behind the tree. "Malfoy was insultin' his family."

"Be that as it may, fighting is against Hogwarts rules. Five points from Gryffindor, Weasley, and be grateful it isn't more. Move along, all of you."

Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle pushed roughly past the tree, scattering needles everywhere and smirking.

"I'll get him," said Ron, grinding his teeth at Malfoy's back, "one of these days, I'll get him –"

"I hate them both," said Harry, "Malfoy and Snape."

"Come on, cheer up, it's nearly Christmas," said Hagrid. "Tell yeh what, come with me an' see the Great Hall, looks a treat."

So the four of them followed Hagrid and his tree off to the Great Hall, where Professor McGonagall and Professor Flitwick were busy with the Christmas decorations.

"Ah, Hagrid, the last tree – put in the far corner, would you?"

The hall looked spectacular. Festoons of holly and mistletoe hung all around the walls and no less than twelve towering Christmas trees stood around the room, some sparkling with tiny icicles, some glittering with hundred of candles.

"How many days you got left until yer holidays?" Hagrid asked.

"Just one," said Hermione. "And that reminds me – Jessica, Harry, Ron, we've got half an hour before lunch, we should be in the library."

"Oh yeah, you're right," said Ron, tearing his eyes away from Professor Flitwick, who had golden bubbles blossoming out of his wand and was trailing them over the branches of the new tree.

"The library?" said Hagrid, following them out of the hall. "Just before the holidays? Bit keen aren't yeh?"

"Oh, we aren't working," said Jessica brightly. "Even since you mentioned Nicolas Flamel, we've been spending lots of time there to try and find out who he is."

"You _what_?" Hagrid looked shocked. "Listen here – I've told yeh – drop it. It's nothin' to you what that dog's guardin'."

"We just want to know who Nicolas Flamel is, that's all," said Hermione.

"Unless you'd like to tell us and save us the trouble?" Harry added. "We must've been through hundreds of books already and we can't find him anywhere – just give us a hint – I know I've read his name somewhere."

"I'm sayin' nothin'," said Hagrid flatly.

"Just have to find out for ourselves, then," said Ron, and they left Hagrid looking disgruntled and hurried off to the library.

They had indeed been searching books for Flamel's name ever since Hagrid had let it slip, because how else were they going to find out what Snape was trying to steal? The trouble was, it was very hard to know where to begin, not knowing what Flamel might have done to get himself into a book. He wasn't in _Great Wizards of the Twentieth Century_, or _Notable Magical Names of Our Time_; he was missing, too,from _Important Modern Magical Discoveries_, and _A Study of Recent Developments in Wizardry_. And then, of course, there was the sheer size of; tens of thousands of books; thousands of shelves; hundreds of narrow rows.

Hermione and Jessica each took out a list of subjects and titles they had decided to search while Ron strode off down a row of books and started pulling them off the shelves at random. Harry wondered over to the restricted section. A section library that had been roped off, you needed a signed note from a teacher to get in. These were the books containing powerful Dark magic never taught at Hogwarts and only read by older students studying advanced Defence Against the Dark Arts. Jessica had barely looked through two books when she saw Harry being hurried out of the library by a feather duster brandishing Madam Pince.

"Looks like Harry's not going to be able to help for a while," she whispered to Hermione.

"Oh dear, has he been kicked out?"

"Yeah, he has."

Jessica quickly put their books away and found Ron pulling more books out of the shelves. After quickly putting them back, they went out to meet Harry. Luckily he was waiting for them in the corridor outside. They shook their heads as they approached him and then went off to lunch.

"You will keep looking while we're away, won't you?" said Hermione. "And send me an owl if you need anything."

"And you could ask your parents if they know who Flamel is," said Ron. "It'd be safe to ask them.

"Very safe, as they're both dentists," said Hermione.

"Yes, totally safe. I'll ask my parents though," said Jessica.

On the first day of the holidays Jessica and Hermione were on the Hogwarts express, eagerly chatting as the train chugged closer to Platform Nine and Three Quarters, and their families that were waiting there.

"I do hope they find who Nicolas Flamel is," said Hermione as they pulled into the station.

"I know, but I guess if they don't, we will probably find him once we get back."

After they got off the train, it took a while for them all to get off the platform. A wizened old guard was up by the ticket barrier letting them go through the gate in twos and threes so they didn't attract attention by bursting out of a solid wall at once and alarming the Muggles. Jessica went through the gate with Hermione. When they emerged, she saw Remus waiting with his parents.

"Well, there they are, I'll see you after Christmas, Jessica," said Hermione, pointing to two Muggles standing beside each other. They bore a resemblance to Hermione, _they must be her parents_ thought Jessica.

"OK, see you after the holidays, Hermione!" Jessica said as she walked to where her own adopted family were waiting for her. They embraced in a huge hug.

"I've missed you, Jess," said Remus as they walked out of King's Cross station.

When they arrived home, it was decorated beautifully. It wasn't as extravagant as they decorations at Hogwarts, but was still beautiful. In the living room was a large green tree. It was empty, but there were boxes of decorations sitting around it. Jessica smiled; she always loved decorating the tree with her family, even if it was slow without magic. As they went through the various boxes of decoration, Jessica found many decorations that she had made when she was younger and every one she found made her feel more at home. As she hung the last glittering bauble on the tree, she stepped back. It was beautiful. The tree had a slight lean at the top, and the decorations were all mismatched, but as Remus waved his wand and a shower of glitter settled over the tree, Jessica couldn't help but catch her breath.

"It just gets better each year, doesn't it?" said her grandmother.

"Yeah, its amazing. Lets complete the image, shall we?" said her grandfather, as he waved his wand and a pile of presents flew from a cupboard from somewhere in the house, and arranged themselves under the tree.

On Christmas Eve, Jessica went to bed looking forward to the next day of food and fun, and wondering what presents she might get. When she woke the next day, she lay in bed for a few minutes, calming herself so she didn't get carried away, but it was hard; it was Christmas! Jessica slipped on her dressing gown and slippers and padded down the hallway. To her surprise, Remus and Jessica's grandparents were already sitting by the tree in the living room.

"Good morning, Jess. And Merry Christmas." said Remus with a big smile from the couch, indicating Jessica to sit next to him. Jessica's grandma flicked her wand and all the gifts floated over to whoever was to receive them. Jessica got a hand-knitted scarf with matching gloves from her grandparents, a bag of Bertie Botts Every Flavour Beans from Harry, some Chocolate Frogs from Ron, from Hermione some Pumpkin Pasties, and Remus had given her a blank photo album. Seeing Jessica's confusion, he explained. "When I was at Hogwarts, my friends and I quickly realised that seven years is an incredibly short time, and so we made an album of all our memories of our school years. Mine is one of my most treasured possessions. I hope you can find as much use for your album as I did mine."

Everyone seemed to love the gifts Jessica had gotten them; a wolf badge for Remus, a decorative desert platter for her grandmother, a canvas she had painted herself for her grandfather, even Truffles the cat seemed to enjoy her new blue collar, which had a tiny tinkling bell on it.

When all the gifts had been swapped, and everyone had gotten dressed, Jessica went into the kitchen where the table was already set out with Christmas dinner. A large roast turkey sat in the middle of the table and were around it were plates of other various foods; roast potatoes, buttered peas and a boat of gravy. There were also four wizard crackers. Jessica pulled one with Remus and it went off like a blast from a canon and engulfed them in a cloud of blue smoke, while from the inside a wide-brimmed straw hat and a set of exploding snap cards. When they were all wearing their different hats and were almost full, a flaming pudding appeared on the table. When all the food had finally been eaten, the four of then moved into the living room and played wizards chess and exploding snap for the rest of the afternoon.

Before Jessica knew it, she was packing again to go back to Hogwarts. When the day finally came for her to return to school, she almost wanted to wait another few days so she could spend more time with her family. But once she was back on the Hogwarts express, talking rapidly with Hermione, she knew she wasn't going back to school, she was going to her other home.

"Did you get an owl from Harry and Ron?" asked Hermione just after they finished their lunch.

"No, why?"

"Well, they said they'd send us an owl if they found Nicolas Flamel. Does this mean they haven't?"

"Well, maybe they couldn't get an owl out through the snow."

"I hope so."

The Hogwarts Express pulled into Hogsmeade Station. They were back.


	13. Nicolas Flamel

Hi everyone! I've got exams this week so I've been sacrificing this story for study time (which may be one reason the Last chapter wasn't as good. Anyway, my next exam(History)is tomorrow, so I can go back to the normal amount of time I dedicate to this story each week. Until then, enjoy chapter 13!

**Jessica Potter and the Philosopher's Stone**

**Chapter 13**

**Nicolas Flamel**

Hermione and Jessica had gotten back the day before term started, and almost immediately asked Ron and Harry if they had found Nicolas Flamel.

"Well, no," said Harry, "but I got an invisibility cloak that belonged to my dad. I went to look in the restricted section, but Filch came and so I ran. I came across a weird mirror that shows what you most want. It's called the Mirror of Erised."

"That sounds, interesting," said Jessica.

"Yeah, so I saw my family in it and I went back again each night for about three nights, until Dumbledore made me stop because, what was it? "It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live," now he's moved it so I can't go find it again."

Hermione seemed torn between horror at the idea of Harry roaming the school three nights in a row, ("If Filch had caught you!") and disappointment that they hadn't at least found who Flamel was.

They had almost given up hope of finding Nicolas Flamel in a library book. But Jessica was sure she'd heard the name somewhere. Once term started, they were back to skimming through books for ten minutes during their breaks. Harry and Jessica had even less time than the other two because Quidditch practise had started again.

Wood was working the team harder than ever. Even the endless rain that had replaced the snow couldn't dampen his spirits. The Weasleys complained that Wood was becoming a fanatic, but Jessica was on Wood's side. If they won their next match against Hufflepuff, they would overtake Slytherin in the house championship for the first time in seven years. Quite apart from wanting to win, Jessica wanted to live up the standard Harry had set as Seeker in their first match.

Then, during one particularly wet and muddy practice session, Wood gave the team a bit of bad news. He'd just got very angry with the Weasleys, who kept dive-bombing each other and pretending to fall off their brooms.

"Will you stop messing around!" he yelled. "That's exactly the sort of thing that'll lose us the match! Snape's refereeing this time, and he'll be looking for any excuse to knock points off Gryffindor!"

George Weasley really did fall off his broom at these words.

"_Snape's _refereeing?" he spluttered through a mouthful of mud, "When's he ever refereed a Quidditch match? He's not going to be fair if we might overtake Slytherin."

The rest of the team landed next to George to complain too.

"It's not _my _fault," said Wood. "We've just got to make sure we play a clean game, so Snape won't have a chance to pick on us."

This was all very well, thought Jessica. She was slightly relived that Harry would not be playing in this match; she would not want Snape near him while he played Quidditch...

The rest of the team hung back to talk to each other as usual at the end of practice, but Harry and Jessica headed straight back to the Gryffindor common-room, where they found Ron and Hermione playing chess. Chess was the only thing Hermione and Jessica both lost at, and Harry and Ron seemed to think it was good for them.

"Don't talk to me for a moment," said Ron as they came and sat next to them, "I need to concen –" he caught sight of Harry and Jessica's faces. "What's the matter with you two? You look terrible."

Speaking quietly, so no one could hear, they told the other two about Snape's sudden, sinister desire to be a Quidditch referee.

"Don't play," said Hermione at once

"Why? It was Harry he tried to kill last time, not me," said Jessica.

"I know, but what if he doesn't like Seekers? You can't play"

"Say you're ill," said Ron.

"Pretend to break your leg," Hermione suggested.

"_Really _break your leg," said Ron.

"I can't," said Jessica, "It'd be a disaster if Snape had another chance to kill Harry. Besides, Snape hates Harry, but I think he almost likes me. I bet if I was in Slytherin, I'd be his favourite student."

At that moment, Neville toppled into the common-room. How he had managed to climb through the portrait hole was anyone's guess, because his legs had been stuck together with what they recognised at once as the Leg-Locker Curse. He must have had to bunny hop all the way up to Gryffindor tower.

Everyone fell about laughing except Hermione, who leapt up and performed the counter-curse. Neville's legs sprang apart and he got to his feet, trembling.

"What happened?"Hermione asked him, leading him over to sit with Harry, Ron and Jessica.

"Malfoy," said Neville shakily. "I met him outside the library. He said he'd been looking for someone to practise that on."

"Go to Professor McGonagall!" Hermione urged Neville. "Report him!"

Neville shook his head.

"I don't want more trouble," he mumbled.

"You've got to stand up to him Neville!" said Ron. "He's used to walking all over people, but that's no reason to lie down in front of him and make it easier."

"There's no need to tell me I'm not brave enough to be in Gryffindor, Malfoy's already told me that," Neville choked.

Harry pulled a chocolate frog out of the pocket in his robes and gave it to Neville, who looked like he was about to cry.

"You're worth twelve of Malfoy," Harry said.

"The Sorting Hat picked you for Gryffindor didn't it?" said Jessica, "you must be much braver than Malfoy, you just don't know it yet."

Neville's lips twitched in a weak smile as he unwrapped the frog.

"Thanks, you guys … Harry, d'you want the card, you collect them, don't you?"

As Neville walked away Harry looked at the Famous Wizard card.

"Dumbledore again," he said, "He was the first one I ever –"

He gasped. He stared at the back of the card. Then he looked up at Jessica, Ron and Hermione.

"_I've found him!_" he whispered. "I've found Flamel! I _told _you I'd read the name somewhere before, I read it on the train coming here – listen to this: "Professor Dumbledore is particularly famous for his defeat of the dark wizard Grindelwald in 1945, for the discovery of the twelve uses of dragon's blood _and his work on alchemy with his partner Nicolas Flamel_"!"

Hermione jumped to her feet. She hadn't looked so excited since they'd got back the marks for their very first piece of homework.

"Stay there!" she said, and she sprinted up the stairs to the girls' dormitories. Harry, Ron and Jessica barely had time to exchange mystified looks before she was dashing back, an enormous old book in her arms.

"I never thought to look in here!" she whispered excitedly. "I got this out of the library weeks ago for a bit of light reading."

"_Light?_" said Ron, but Hermione told him to be quiet until she'd looked something up and started flicking franticly through the pages, muttering to herself.

At last she found what she was looking for.

"I knew it! I _knew _it!"

"Are we allowed to speak yet?" said Ron grumpily. Hermione ignored him.

"Nicolas Flamel," she whispered dramatically, "is the _only known maker of the Philosopher's Stone_!"

This didn't have quite the effect she'd expected on the boys.

"The what?" they said.

"Don't you two read?" said Jessica.

"Look – read that, there." Said Hermione, pushing the book towards them. It said:

_The ancient study of alchemy is concerned with making the Philosopher's Stone, a legendary substance with astonishing powers. The stone will transform any metal into pure gold. It also produces the Elixir of Life, which will make the drinker immortal._

_There have been many reports of the Philosopher's Stone over the centuries, but the only Stone in existence belongs to Nicolas Flamel, who celebrated his six hundred and sixty-fifth birthday last year, enjoys a quiet life in Devon with his wife Perenelle (six hundred and fifty-eight)._

"See?" said Hermione, when Harry and Ron had finished "The dog must be guarding Flamel's Philosopher's Stone! I bet he asked Dumbledore to keep it safe for him, because they're friends and he knew someone was after it, that's why he wanted the Stone moved out of Gringotts!"

"A stone that makes gold and stops you ever dying!" said Harry, "No wonder Snape's after it! _Anyone _would want it."

"And no wonder we couldn't find Flamel in that_ Study of Recent Development in Wizardry_," said Ron. "He's not exactly recent if he's six hundred and sixty-five, is he?"

Next morning in Defence Against the Dark Arts, while copying down different ways of treating werewolf bites, Harry and Ron were talking about what they'd do with their own Philosopher's Stone. Jessica was trying not to listen, but when Ron said that he'd buy a new broomstick she remembered about the upcoming Quidditch match.

"I'm going to play," she said, "there aren't any other Seeker. If either Harry or I don't play, Gryffindor will have to forfeit. Besides, if we win, that'll really wipe the smiles off Slytherin's faces."

"As long as we're not wiping you off the pitch," said Hermione.

As the match drew nearer, however, Jessica became more and more nervous, whatever she told Harry, Ron and Hermione. The rest of the team weren't too calm, either. The idea of overtaking Slytherin in the house championship was wonderful, no one had done it in seven years, but would they be able to, with such a biased referee?

Jessica didn't know whether she was imagining it or not, but she seemed to be running into Snape everywhere she went. Potions became a sort of weekly torture for Harry, Snape was being horrible to him, and Jessica was glad she was playing instead of Harry. Could Snape possibly know they'd found out about the Philosopher's Stone? Jessica couldn't see how he could – yet she sometimes had the horrible feeling Snape knew how to read minds.

Jessica knew, when they wished her good luck outside the changing rooms next afternoon, that Harry, Ron and Hermione were wondering whether they'd ever see her alive again. This wasn't what you'd call comforting. Jessica hardly heard a word of Wood's pep talk as she nervously twisted the hem of her Quidditch robes in her hand.

Harry, Ron and Hermione, meanwhile had found a place in the stands next to Neville, who couldn't understand why they looked so grim and worried, or why they had all bought their wands to the match. Little did Jessica know, they had been secretly practising the Leg-Locker Curse. They'd got the idea from Malfoy using it on Neville, and were ready to use it on Snape if he showed any sign of wanting to hurt Jessica.

"Now, don't forget, it's _Locomotor Mortis,_" Hermione muttered as they slipped their wands up their sleeves.

"I know," Ron snapped. "Don't nag."

Back in the Gryffindor changing room, Wood had taken Jessica aside.

"Don't want to pressure you, Lupin, but if we ever need an early capture of the Snitch it's now. Finish the game before favour Hufflepuff too much."

"The whole school's out there!" said Fred Weasley, peering out of the door. "Even – blimey – Dumbledore's come to watch!"

Jessica's heart did a somersault.

"_Dumbledore?_" she said, dashing to the door to make sure. Fred was right. There was no mistaking that silver beard.

Jessica could've laughed out loud with relief. She was safe. There was simply no way that Snape would dare to try and hurt her if Dumbledore was watching.

Perhaps that's why was looking so angry as the teams marched onto the pitch, something that Ron had noticed, too.

Someone had poked Ron in the back of the head. It was Malfoy. "I've never seen Snape look so mean," he told the others. "Look – they're off. Ouch!"

"Oh, sorry Weasley, didn't see you there."

Malfoy grinned broadly at Crabbe and Goyle.

"Why aren't you playing, Potter? Didn't think you could stay on your broom this time?"

Harry didn't answer. Snape had just awarded Hufflepuff a penalty because George Weasley had hit a Bludger at him. Hermione, who had all her fingers crossed in her lap, was squinting up at Jessica, who, not as observant as Harry, was sticking to the Hufflepuff Seeker like glue, looking for any sign that they'd seen the Snitch.

"You know how I think they choose people for the Gryffindor Quidditch team?" said Malfoy loudly a few minutes later, as Snape rewarded Hufflepuff another penalty for no reason at all. "It's people they feel sorry for. See there's Potter and Lupin, who have no parents, then there's the Weasleys, who've got no money – you should be on the team, Longbottom, you've got no brains."

Neville turned bright red but turned in his seat to face Malfoy.

"I'm worth twelve of you, Malfoy," he stammered.

Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle howled with laughter, but Ron, still not daring to take his eyes from the game, said, "You tell him, Neville."

"Longbottom, if brains were gold, you'd be poorer than Weasley, and that's saying something."

Harry's nerves were already stretched to breaking point with anxiety about Jessica.

"Malfoy, just leave us alone," he began, "go enjoy the match somewhere else or we might have to –"

"Ron!" said Hermione suddenly, "Harry! Look at Jess –!"

"What? Where?"

The Hufflepuff Seeker had suddenly gone into a spectacular dive, and Jessica was following, which drew gasps and cheers from the crowd. Hermione stood up, her crossed fingers in her mouth, as Jessica streaked towards the ground like a bullet.

"You're in luck, Weasley, Lupin's obviously spotted some money on the ground!" said Malfoy.  
>Ron snapped. Before Malfoy knew what was happening, Ron was on top of him, wrestling him to the ground. Neville hesitated, then clambered over the back of his seat with Harry to help.<p>

"Come on Jessica!" Hermione screamed, leaping up on to her seat to watch as Jessica and the Hufflepuff Seeker sped straight at Snape – she didn't even notice Malfoy and Ron rolling around under her seat, or the scuffles and yelps coming from the whirl of fists that was Neville, Harry, Crabbe and Goyle.

Up in the air, Snape turned on his broomstick just in time to see something scarlet and something yellow shoot past him, missing him by inches. Jessica shot through the sky, keeping her eye closely on the Snitch when suddenly – WHAM! A Bludger flew out of nowhere and hit her hand, painfully crushing it momentarily between the broomstick and the ball before it rebounded and shot away again. The impact of the Bludger had caused Jessica to veer into the other Seeker, and Snape gave Hufflepuff yet another penalty, but Jessica lost sight of the Snitch.

For the next twenty minutes, Jessica was back to scanning the air for the Snitch while staying close to the Hufflepuff Seeker who kept trying to get rid of her. She saw a glint of gold and was about to move after it when the Hufflepuff Seeker dived in the other direction. A quick glance confirmed that he was only trying to lose her and hadn't seen the Snitch at all. She shot off towards the real one. Jessica dived down to the Snitch, reaching out her still throbbing hand. She pulled out of the dive, her arm raised triumphantly in the air, clutching the Snitch.

The stands exploded with cheering.

"Ron! Harry! Where are you? The game's over! Jessica's won! We've won! Gryffindor are in the lead!" shrieked Hermione, dancing up and down on her seat and hugging Pavarti Patil in the row in front.

Jessica jumped off her broom, a foot from the ground. She couldn't believe it. She'd done it – the game had only lasted twenty-five minutes. As Gryffindors came spilling onto the pitch, she saw Snape land nearby, white faced and tight lipped. He spat bitterly onto the ground.

Jessica left the changing room alone sometime later, to take her Cleansweep Seven back to the broom shed. She couldn't ever remember feeling more ecstatic. She'd really done something to be proud of – she was starting to make a name for herself at Hogwarts. The evening air had never smelt so sweet. She walked over the damp grass, reliving the last hour in her head, which was a happy blur: Gryffindors running to lift her on their shoulders; Ron, Hermione and Harry in the distance, jumping up and down, Ron cheering through a heavy nosebleed.

Jessica had reached the shed. She leant against the wooden door and looked up at Hogwarts, with its windows glowing red in the setting sun. Gryffindor in the lead. She'd done it, she'd shown Snape …

And speaking of Snape …

A hooded figure came swiftly down the front steps of the castle. Clearly not wanting to be seen, it walked as fast as possible towards the forbidden forest. Jessica's victory vanished from her mind as she watched. She recognised the figure's prowling walk. Snape, sneaking into the forest while everyone else was at dinner – what was going on?

Jessica jumped back on her Cleansweep Seven and took off. Gliding silently over the castle she saw Snape enter the forest at a run. She followed.

The trees were so thick she couldn't see where Snape had gone. She flew in circles, lower and lower, brushing the top branches of trees until she heard voices. She glided towards them and landed noiselessly in a towering beech tree.

She climbed carefully along one of the branches, holding tight to her broomstick, trying to see through the leaves.

Below, in a shadowy clearing, stood Snape, but he wasn't alone. Quirrell was there, too. Jessica couldn't make out the look on his face, but he was stuttering worse than ever. Jessica strained to hear what they were saying.

" … d-don't why you wanted t-t-to meet here of all p-places, Severus …"

"Oh, I thought we'd keep this private," said Snape, his voice icy.

"Students aren't supposed to know about the Philosopher's Stone, after all."

Jessica leant forward. Quirrell was mumbling something. Snape interrupted him.

"Have you found how to get past that beast of Hagrid's yet?"

"B-b-but Severus, I –"

"You don't want me as your enemy, Quirrell," said Snape, taking a step towards him.

"I-I don't know what you –"

"You know perfectly well what I mean."

An owl hooted loudly and Jessica nearly fell out of the tree. She steadied herself in time to hear Snape say "– your bit of hocus pocus. I'm waiting."

"B-but I d-d-don't –"

"Very well," Snape cut in . "We'll have another little chat soon, when you've had time to think things over and decided where your loyalties lie."

He threw his cloak over his head and strode out of the clearing. It was almost dark now, but Jessica could see Quirrell, standing quite still as though he was petrified.

"Jessica, where have you _been_?" Hermione squeaked.

"We won! We did it!" shouted Harry.

"And I gave Malfoy a black eye," said Ron, "and Neville tried to take on Crabbe and Goyle! With Harry for back up too, mind you. He's still out cold but Madam Pomfrey says he'll be all right – talk about showing Slytherin! Everyone's waiting in the common-room, we're having a party, Fred and George stole some cakes and stuff from the kitchens."

"Never mind that now," said Jessica breathlessly. "Follow me, wait until you hear this …"

She pulled them into an empty classroom, checking Peeves wasn't there before she closed the door behind them. She then told them what she'd seen and heard.

"So we were right, it _is _the Philosopher's Stone, and Snape's trying to force Quirrell to help him get it. He wanted to know how to get past Fluffy – and there must be other things guarding the stone, because he asked Quirrell about his "hocus pocus". Quirrell must have done some sort of anti-Dark Magic spell that Snape has to break through."

"So you mean the Stone's only safe as long as Quirrell stands up to Quirrell?" said Hermione in alarm.

"It'll be gone by next Tuesday." Said Ron.


	14. Norbert the Norwegian Ridgeback

Hey everyone. I'm at home sick, so I'm getting ahead with this story. Hope you like chapter 14!

**Jessica Potter and the Philosopher's Stone**

**Chapter 14**

**Norbert the Norwegian Ridgeback **

Quirrell, however, must have been braver than they'd thought**. **In the weeks that followed he seemed to be getting paler and thinner, but it didn't look as though he had cracked yet.

Every time they passed the third-floor corridor, Jessica, Harry, Ron and Hermione would press their ears to the door to check that Fluffy was still growling inside. Snape was sweeping about in his usual bad temper, which surely meant that the stone was still safe. Harry started giving Quirrell an encouraging smile every time thy passed, and Ron started telling people off for laughing at his stutter.

Jessica and Hermione, however, had more on their minds than the Philosopher's Stone. They had started drawing up revision timetables and colour-coding all their notes. They kept asking Harry and Ron to do the same, but they wouldn't

"The exams are ages away!"

"Ten weeks," said Jessica. "That's not ages away, imagine how long that is for Nicolas Flamel!"

"But we're not six hundred years old," Ron reminded her.

"Anyway, what are you two revising for? You already know it all."

"What are we revising for?" Hermione gasped. "Are you mad? You realise we need to pass these exams to get into the second year? They're very important, we should have started studying a month ago, I don't know what's gotten into me …"

The teachers seemed to be thinking along the same lines as Jessica and Hermione. They piled a mountain of homework on them for the Easter Holidays, so they we're nearly as fun as the Christmas ones. Moaning and yawning, Harry and Ron would spend most of their spare time in the library with Hermione and Jessica, trying to get through their work.

"I'll never get through this," Ron burst out one afternoon, throwing down his quill and looking longingly out of the library window. It was the first really fine day they'd had in months. The sky was a clear, forget-me-not blue and there was a feeling in the air of summer coming.

Jessica, who was so absorbed in her work, didn't even look up until she heard Ron say "Hagrid! What are you doing in the library?"

Hagrid shuffled into view, hiding something behind his back. He looked very out of place in his moleskin overcoat.

"Jus' lookin'," he said in a shifty voice that got their interest at once.

"An' what're you lot up ter?" He looked suddenly suspicious. "Yer not sill lookin' for Nicolas Flamel, are yeh?"

"Oh, we found out who he is ages ago, said Ron impressively, "_And_ we know what that dog's guarding, it's a Philosopher's St–"

"_Shhhh!_" Hagrid looked about quickly to see if anyone was listening. "Don' go shoutin' about it, what's the matter with yeh?"

"There are a few things we wanted to ask you, as a matter of fact," said Harry, "about what's guarding the stone apart from Fluffy –"

"SHHHH!" said Hagrid again. "Listen – come an' see me later, I'm not promising I'll tell yeh anything, mind, but don' go rabbitin' about it in here, students aren' s'pposed ter know. They'll think I told yeh –"

"See you later, then," said Harry.

Hagrid shuffled off.

"What was he hiding behind his back?" said Hermione thoughtfully.

"Do you think it had anything to do with the stone?" asked Jessica.

"I'll go see what section he was in," said Ron, who'd had enough of working. He came back a minute later with a pile of books in his arms and slammed them down on the table.

"_Dragons!_" he whispered. "Hagrid was looking stuff up about dragons! Look at these: _Dragons Species of Great Britain and Ireland; From Egg to Inferno, a Dragon Keeper's Guide_."

"Hagrid's always wanted a dragon, he told me the first time I ever met him," said Harry.

"But it's against our laws," said Ron.

"Yeah, dragon breeding was outlawed by the Warlocks' Convention of 1709. Because, you know, it's really hard for muggles to not notice huge dragons in our back gardens," said Jessica.

"Anyway, you can't tame dragons – you should see the burns Charlie's got off wild ones in Romania."

"But there aren't wild dragons in _Britain_?" said Harry.

"Of course there are," said Ron. "Common Welsh Green and Hebridean Blacks. The Ministry of Magic has a job hushing them up, I can tell you. Our lot have to keep putting spells on muggles who've spotted them, to make them forget."

"So what on earth's Hagrid up to?" said Hermione.

When they knocked on the door of the gamekeeper's hut an hour later, they were surprised to see all the curtains were closed. Hagrid called "Who is it?" before he let them in and then shut the door quickly behind them.

It was stifling hot inside. Even though it was such a warm day, there was a blazing fire in the grate. Hagrid made them tea and stoat sandwiches, which they refused.

"So – yeh wanted to ask me somethin'?"

"Yes," said Harry. There was no point beating about the bush. "We were wondering if you could tell us what's guarding the Philosopher's Stone apart from Fluffy."

Hagrid frowned at him.

"O' course I can't," he said. "Number one, I don' know meself. Number two, yeh know too much already, so I wouldn' tell yeh if I could. That Stone's here fer a good reason. It was almost stolen outta Gringotts – I s'ppose yeh've worked that out an' all? Beats me how yeh even know abou' Fluffy."

"Oh, come on Hagrid, you might now want to tell us, but you _do_ know, you know everything that goes on around here," said Hermione in a warm, flattering voice. Hagrid's beard twitched and they could tell he was smiling. "We only wondered who had _done _the guarding, really." Hermione went on. "We wondered who Dumbledore had trusted enough to help him, apart from you."

Hagrid's chest swelled at these last words. Harry, Ron and Jessica beamed at Hermione.

"Well, I don' s'pose it could hurt ter tell yeh that … let's see … he borrowed Fluffy from me … then some o' he teachers did enchantments … Professor Sprout – Professor Flitwick – Professor McGonagall –" he ticked them off on his fingers, "Professor Quirrell – an' Dumbledore himself did somethin', o' course. Hang on, I've forgotten someone. Oh yeah, Professor Snape."

"_Snape?_"

"Yeah – yer not still on about that, are yeh? Look, Snape helped _protect_ the Stone, he's not about ter steal it."

Jessica knew Harry, Ron and Hermione were thinking the same as she was. If Snape had been in on protecting the Stone, it must have been easy to find out how the other teachers had guarded it. He probably knew everything, except how to get past Fluffy and Quirrell's spell.

"You're the only one who knows how to get past Fluffy, aren't you, Hagrid?" said Harry anxiously. "And you wouldn't tell anyone, would you? Not even one of the teachers?"

"Not a soul knows except me an' Dumbledore," said Hagrid proudly.

"Well that's something," Harry muttered. Hagrid, can we have a window open? I'm boiling."

"Can't, Harry, sorry," said Hagrid. Jessica saw him glance at the fire. Jessica looked at it too.

"Hagrid – what's _that_?"

But she already knew what it was. In the very heart of the fire, underneath the kettle, was a huge, black egg.

"Ah," said Hagrid, fiddling nervously with his beard, "that's – er …"

"Where did you get it, Hagrid?" said Ron, crouching over the fire to get a closer look at the egg. "It must've cost you a fortune."

"Won it," said Hagrid. "Las' night. I was down in the village havin' a few drinks an' got into a game o' cards with a stranger. Think he was quite glad to be rid of it, ter be honest."

"But what're you going to do once it's hatched?" said Jessica.

"Well, I've bin doin' some readin'," said Hagrid, pulling a large book from under his pillow. "Got this outta the library – _Dragon Breeding for Pleasure and Profit_ – it's a bit outta date, o' course, it's all in here. Keep the egg in the fire, 'cause their mothers breathe on 'em, see, an' when it hatches, feed it a bucket o' brandy mixed with chicken blood every half hour. An' see here – how ter recognise diff'rent eggs – what I got there's a Norwegian Ridgeback. They're rare, them."

He looked very pleased with himself, but Hermione didn't.

"Hagrid, you live in a _wooden_ _house_," she said.

But Hagrid wasn't listening. He was humming merrily as he stoked the fire.

So now they had something else to worry about: what might happen to Hagrid if anyone found out he was hiding an illegal dragon in his hut.

"Wonder what it's like to have a peaceful life," sighed Ron, as evening after evening they worked through the extra homework they were getting. Hermione and Jessica had started making revision timetables for Harry and Ron, too.

Then, one breakfast time, Hedwig, Harry's snowy owl, bought him a note from Hagrid. He had written only two words: _It's hatching_.

Ron wanted to skip Herbology and go straight down to the hut. Hermione wouldn't hear of it.

"Hermione, how many times in our lives are we going to see a dragon hatching?"

"We've got lessons, we'll get into trouble, and that's nothing to what Hagrid's going to be in when someone finds out what he's doing –"

"Shut up!" Harry whispered.

Malfoy was only a few feet away and he had stopped dead to listen. How much had he heard? Jessica didn't like the look on Malfoy's face at all.

Ron and Hermione argued all the way down to Herbology and in the end, Hermione agreed to run down to Hagrid's with the other three during morning break. When the bell sounded from the castle for the end of the lesson, the four of them dropped their trowels at once and hurried through the grounds to the edge of the forest.

Hagrid greeted them looking flushed and excited.

"It's nearly out." He ushered them inside.

The egg was lying on the table. There were deep cracks in it. Something was moving inside; a funny clicking noise was coming from it.

They drew their chairs up to the table and watched with bated breath.

All at once there was a scraping noise and the egg split open. The baby dragon flopped on to the table. I wasn't exactly pretty; Jessica thought it looked like a crumpled, black umbrella. Its spiny wings were huge compared to its skinny body, it had a long snout with wide nostrils, the snubs of horns and bulging, orange eyes.

It sneezed. A couple of sparks flew out of its snout.

"Isn't he _beautiful_?" Hagrid murmured. He reached out his hand to stroke the dragon's head. It snapped at his fingers, showing pointed fangs.

"Bless him, look, he knows his mummy!" said Hagrid.

"Hagrid," said Hermione, "how fast do Norwegian Ridgebacks grow, exactly?"

Hagrid was about to answer when the colour suddenly drained from him face – he leapt to his feet and ran to the window.

"What's the matter?"

"Someone was lookin' through the gap in the curtains – it's a kid – he's runnin' back up ter the school."

Jessica sprinted out the door with Harry and looked back to the castle. Even at a distance there was no mistaking him.

Malfoy had seen the dragon.

Something about the smile lurking on Malfoy's face during the next week made Harry, Ron, Jessica, and Hermione. They spent most of their free time in Hagrid's darkened hut, trying to reason with him.

"Just let him go," Harry urged. "Set him free."

"I can't," said Hagrid. "He's too little. He'd die."

They looked at the dragon. It had grown three times in length in just a week. Smoke kept furling out of its nostrils. Hagrid hadn't been doing his gamekeeper duties because the dragon was keeping him so busy. There were empty brandy bottles and chicken feathers all over the floor.

"I've decided to call him Norbert," said Hagrid, looking at the dragon with misty eyes. "He really knows me now, watch. Norbert! Norbert! Where's mummy?"

"He's lost his marbles," Ron muttered.

"Hagrid," said Harry loudly, "give it a fortnight and Norbert will be as long as your house. Malfoy could go to Dumbledore at any moment."

Hagrid bit his lip.

"I – I know I can't keep him for ever, but I can't jus' dump him, I can't."

Harry turned suddenly to Ron.

"Charlie," he said.

"You're losing it, too," said Ron. "I'm Ron, remember?"

"No – Charlie – your brother, Charlie. In Romania. Studying dragons. We could send Norbert to him. Charlie could take care of him and then put him back in the wild!"

"Brilliant!" said Ron. "How about it, Hagrid?"

And in the end, Hagrid agreed they could send an owl to Charlie to ask him.

The following week dragged by. Wednesday night found Hermione, Harry and Jessica sitting alone in the common-room, long after everyone else had gone to bed. The clock on the wall had just chimed midnight when the portrait hole burst open. Ron appeared out of nowhere as he pulled off Harry's invisibility cloak. He had been helping down at Hagrid's hut, helping him feed Norbert, who was now eating dead rats by the crate.

"It bit me!" he said, showing his hand, which was wrapped in a bloody handkerchief. "I'm not going to be able to hold a quill for a week. I tell you, that dragon's the most horrible animal I've ever met, but the way Hagrid goes on about it, you'd think it was a fluffy little bunny rabbit. When it bit me he told me off for frightening it. And when I left, he was singing it a lullaby."

There was a tap on the dark window.

"It's Hedwig!" said Harry, hurrying to let her in. "She'll have Charlie's answer!"

the four of them put their heads together to read the note.

_Dear Ron, _

_How are you? Thanks for your letter – I'd be glad to take the Norwegian Ridgeback, but it won't be easy getting him here. I think the best thing is to send him over with some friends of mine who are coming to visit me next week. Trouble is, they mustn't be seen carrying an illegal dragon._

_Could you get the Ridgeback up the tallest tower at midnight on Saturday? They can meet you there and take him away while its still dark._

_Send me an answer as soon as possible._

_Love,_

_Charlie_

They looked at each other.

"We've got the invisibility cloak," said Harry. 'It shouldn't be too difficult – I think the cloak's big enough to cover three of us and Norbert."

It was a mark of how bad the last week had been that the other agreed with him. Anything to get rid of Norbert – and Malfoy.

There was a hitch. By next morning, Ron's hand had swollen to twice its usual size. He didn't know whether it was safe to go to Madam Pomfrey – would she recognise a dragon bite? By the afternoon, though, he had no choice. The cut had turned a nasty shade of green. It looked as if Norbert's fangs were poisonous.

Jessica, Harry and Hermione rushed up to the hospital wing at the end of the day to find Ron in a terrible state in bed.

"It's not just my hand," he whispered, "although that feels like it's about fall off. Malfoy told Madam Pomfrey he wanted to borrow one of my books so he could come have a good laugh at me. He kept threatening to tell her what really bit me – I've told her it was a dog but I don't think she believes me – I shouldn't have hit him at the Quidditch match, that's why he's doing this."

Harry, Jessica and Hermione tried to calm him down.

"It'll all be over at midnight on Saturday," said Hermione, but this didn't soothe Ron at all. On the contrary, he sat bolt upright and broke into a sweat.

"Midnight on Saturday!" he said in a horse voice. "Oh no – oh no – I've just remembered – Charlie's letter was in that book Malfoy took, he's going to know we're getting rid of Norbert."

Harry, Jessica and Hermione didn't get a chance to answer. Madam Pomfrey came over at that moment and made them leave, saying Ron needed sleep.

"It's too late to change the plan now," Harry said. "We haven't got time to send Charlie another owl and this could be our only chance to get rid of Norbert. We'll have to risk it. And we _have _got the invisibility cloak, Malfoy doesn't know about that."

They found Fang the boarhound sitting outside with a bandaged tail when they went to tell Hagrid, who opened a window to talk to them.

"I won't let you in," he puffed, "Norbert's at a tricky stage – nothing I can't handle."

When they told him about Charlie's letter, his eyes filled with tears, although, that might have been because Norbert had just bitten him on the leg.

"Aargh! It's all right, he only just got my boot – jus' playin' – he's only a baby, after all."

The baby banged his tail on the wall, making the windows rattle. Jessica, Harry and Hermione walked back to the castle feeling Saturday couldn't come fast enough.

They would have felt sorry for Hagrid when the time came for him to say goodbye to Norbert if they hadn't been so worried about what they had to do. It was a very dark, cloudy night, and they were a bit late arriving at Hagrid's hut because they'd had to wait for Peeves to get out of their way in the entrance hall, where he'd been playing tennis against the wall.

Hagrid had Norbert packed and ready in a large crate.

"He's got loads o' rats an' some brandy fer the journey," said Hagrid in a muffled voice. "An' I've packed his favourite teddy bear in case he gets lonely."

From inside the crate came ripping noises that sounded to Jessica that teddy was having his head ripped off.

"Bye bye, Norbert!" Hagrid sobbed, as Harry, Hermione and Jessica covered the crate with the invisibility cloak and stepped under it themselves. "Mummy will never forget you!"

How they managed to get the crate back up to the castle, they never knew. Midnight ticked nearer as they heaved Norbert up the marble staircase in the entrance hall and along the dark corridors. Up another staircase, then another – even one of Harry's short cuts didn't make the work much easier.

"Nearly there!" Harry panted as they reached the corridor beneath the tallest tower.

Then a sudden movement ahead of them almost made them drop the crate. Forgetting they were already invisible, they shrank into the shadows, staring at the dark outlines of two people grappling with each other ten feet away. A lamp flared. Professor McGonagall , in a tartan dressing gown and a hair net, had Malfoy by the ear.

"Detention!" she shouted. "And twenty points from Slytherin! Wandering in the middle of the night, how _dare _you –"

"You don't understand, Professor, Harry Potter's coming – he's got a dragon!"

"What utter rubbish! How dare you tell such lies! Come on – I shall see Professor Snape about you, Malfoy!"

the steel spiral staircase up to the top of the tower seemed like the easiest thing in the world after that. Not until they'd stepped out into the cold night air did they throw off the cloak, glad to be able to breath properly. Hermione did a sort of jig.

"Malfoy's got detention! I could sing!"

"Please don't," said Jessica.

Chuckling about Malfoy, they waited, Norbert thrashing about in his crate. About ten minutes later, four broomsticks came swooping out of the darkness.

Charlie's friends were a cheery lot. They showed Harry, Hermione, and Jessica the harness they'd rigged up, so they could support Norbert between them. They all helped buckle Norbert safely into it and then Jessica, Harry and Hermione shook hands with the others and thanked them very much.

At last, Norbert was going … going … _gone_.  
>They slipped back down the spiral staircase, their hearts as light as their hands, now that Norbert was off them. No more dragon – Malfoy in detention – what could spoil their happiness?<p>

The answer was waiting at the foot of the stairs. As they stepped into the corridor, Filch's face loomed suddenly out of the darkness.

"Well, well, well," he whispered, "we _are _in trouble."

They'd left the invisibility cloak on top of the tower.


	15. The Forbidden Forest

Hey guys! I know there are some things in this story that don't quite match up, but I had to alter the size of the invisibility cloak so the house points would level out at the end. This is a really long chapter, but I think it's shorter than it is in the book so no complaining! Here's chapter 15.

**Jessica Potter and the Philosopher's Stone**

**Chapter 15**

**The Forbidden Forest**

Things couldn't have been worse.

Filch took them down to Professor McGonagall's study on the first floor, where they sat and waited without saying a word to each other. Hermione was trembling. Jessica franticly searched her brain for an alibi, an explanation as to why they were sneaking around school in the dead of night, let alone up the tallest astronomy tower, which was put of bounds at the best of times. None came to mind. How could they be so stupid as to forget the cloak? There was no way they were getting out of trouble this time.

Jessica didn't think things could get worse, but at that moment they did. Professor McGonagall appeared, leading Neville into her study too.

"Harry!" Neville burst out, the moment he saw the other three. "I was trying to find you to warn you, I heard Malfoy saying he was going to catch you, he said you had a drag–"

Harry shook his head violently to shut Neville up, but Professor McGonagall had seen. She looked more likely to breathe fire than Norbert as she towered over the four of them.

'I would have never believed it of any of you. Mr Filch says you were up the astronomy tower. It's one o'clock in the morning. _Explain yourselves_."

It was the first time either Hermione or Jessica had ever failed to answer a teacher. They stared at the ground, still as statues.

"I think I've got a good idea of what's going on," said Professor McGonagall. "It doesn't take a genius to work it out. You fed Draco Malfoy some cock and bull story about a dragon, trying to get him out of bed and into trouble. I've already caught him. I suppose you think it's funny that Longbottom here heard the story and believed it, too?"

Jessica tried to catch Neville's eye to tell him it wasn't true, but he wouldn't even look at her. Poor, blundering Neville – Jessica knew what it must have cost him to try and find them in the dark, to warn them.

"I'm disgusted," said Professor McGonagall. "Five students out of bed in one night! I've never heard of such a thing before! Miss Granger, Miss Lupin, I thought you two had more sense. As for you, Mr Potter, I thought Gryffindor meant more to you than this. All four of you will receive detentions – yes, you too, Mr Longbottom, _nothing_ gives you the right to walk around the school at night, especially these days, it's very dangerous – and fifty points will be taken from Gryffindor."

"_Fifty?_" Harry gasped. Jessica knew what he was thinking – that would lose the lead she had gained in the last Quidditch match.

"Fifty points _each_," said Professor McGonagall, breathing heavily through her long pointed nose.

"Professor – please –"

"You _can't_ –"

"Don't tell me what I can't do, Potter. Now get back to bed, all of you. I've never been more ashamed of Gryffindor students."

Two hundred points lost. That put Gryffindor in last place. In one night, they'd ruined any chance Gryffindor had had for the house cup. Jessica felt as though she had lost her stomach. How could they ever make up for this?

Jessica didn't sleep all night. She was dreading the dawn. What would happen when the rest of Gryffindor found out what they'd done?

At first, Gryffindors passing the giant hourglass that recorded the points next day thought there'd been a mistake. How could they suddenly have two hundred points fewer than yesterday? And then the story began to spread: Harry Potter, the famous Harry Potter and Jessica Lupin, the two heroes of the Quidditch matches, had lost them all those points, them and a couple of their first year friends.

Jessica soon went from being one of Gryffindor's favourite first years, to one that was constantly avoided. But this was nothing compared to Harry. He went from being one of the most popular and admired people in the school, and was suddenly the most hated. Even Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs turned on him, because everyone had been so eager to see Slytherin lose the house cup. Everywhere Harry and Jessica went, people pointed and didn't trouble to lower their voices as they insulted them. Slytherins, on the other hand, clapped as they walked past them, clapping and cheering, "Thanks, we owe you one!"

Ron was the only one that stood by them.

"They'll all forget this in a few weeks. Fred and George have lost loads of points in the time they've been here, and people still like them."

"They've never lost two hundred points in one go, though, have they?" said Harry miserably.

"Well – no," Ron admitted.

It was a little late to repair the damage, but Jessica swore to herself not to meddle in things that didn't concern her from now on. She'd had it with sneaking around and spying. She and Harry both felt so ashamed, they went to Wood and offered to resign from the Quidditch team.

"_Resign?_" Wood thundered. "What good'll that do? How are we going to get back any points if we can't win at Quidditch?"

But even Quidditch had lost its fun. The rest of the team wouldn't speak to Jessica or Harry during practice, and if they had to speak about them, they called them 'The Seekers'.

Hermione and Neville were suffering, too. They didn't have as bad time as Harry, because they weren't as well known, but nobody would speak to them either. Hermione had stopped drawing attention to herself in class, keeping her head down and working in silence.

Jessica was glad the exams weren't far away. All the revision she was doing kept her mind off her misery. She, Harry, Ron and Hermione kept to themselves, working late into the night, trying to remember ingredients in complicated potions, learn charms and spells off by heart, memorise dates of magical discoveries and goblin revolutions …

Then, about a week before the exams were due to start, Jessica's new resolution to not interfere in anything that wasn't her business was put to an unexpected test. Walking back from the library with Harry one afternoon, she heard someone whimpering from a classroom up ahead. As they drew closer, they heard Quirrell's voice.

"No – no – not again, please –"

It sounded as though someone was threatening him. Harry and Jessica moved closer.

"All right – all right –" they heard Quirrell sob.

Next second, Quirrell came hurrying out of the classroom straightening his turban. He was pale and looked as though he was about to cry. He strode out of sight; Jessica didn't even think he noticed them. They waited until Quirrell's footsteps had disappeared, then peered into the classroom. It was empty, but a door stood ajar at the other end. They were both halfway towards it when Jessica remembered what she'd promised about not meddling.

All the same, she'd have gambled five Philosopher's Stones that Snape had just left the room, and from they had just heard, Snape would be walking with a new spring in his step – Quirrell seemed to have given up at last.

Jessica and Harry went back to the library, where Hermione was testing Ron on Astronomy. They told the other two what they had just heard.

"Snape's done it, then!" said Ron. "If Quirrell's told him how to break his Anti-Dark Force spell –"

"There's still Fluffy, though,' said Hermione.

"Maybe Snape's found out how to get past him without asking Hagrid," said Ron, looking up at the thousands of books that surrounded them. "I bet there's a book somewhere in here telling you how to get past a three-headed dog. So what do we do?"

The light of adventure was kindling again in Ron's eyes, but Hermione answered just as Jessica was about to.

"Go to Dumbledore. That's what we should've done ages ago. If we try anything ourselves we'll be thrown out for sure."

"But we haven't got any _proof_!" said Jessica. "Quirrell won't back us up, he'll be too scared. Snape's only got to say he didn't let in the troll on Halloween and that he wasn't anywhere near the third floor. Who do you think Dumbledore's going to believe? It's not really a secret we don't like Snape, everyone will think we're making it up to get him sacked. Filch would help us in a million years – the more students expelled, the better, he thinks. And remember – we're not supposed to know about Fluffy or the Philosopher's Sone, that'll take a lot of explaining."

Hermione and Harry looked convinced, but Ron didn't.

"If we just do a bit of poking around –"

"No," said Harry flatly, we've done enough poking around."

He pulled a map o Jupiter across the table in a final sort of way, and they all went back to their revision.

The following morning, notes were delivered to Jessica, Harry, Hermione and Neville at the breakfast table. They were all the same:

_Your Detention will take place at eleven o'clock tonight._

_Meet Mr Filch in the entrance hall._

_Prof. M. McGonagall_

Jessica had forgotten they still had detentions to do in the furore over the points they'd lost. She and Harry expected Hermione to complain that this was a whole night of revision lost, but she didn't say a word. They all felt they deserved what they'd got.

At eleven o'clock they said goodbye to Ron in the common-room and went down to the entrance hall with Neville. Filch was already there – and so was Malfoy. Jessica had also forgotten that Malfoy had gotten a detention too.

"Follow me," said Filch, lighting up a lamp and leading them outside.

"I bet you'll think twice about breaking a school rule again, won't you, eh?" he said, leering at them. "Oh yes … hard work and pain are the best teachers if you ask me … It's just a pity they let the old punishments die out … hang you by your wrists from the ceiling for a few days, I've got the chains still in my office, keep 'em well oiled in case they're ever needed … Right, off we go, and don't think of running off, now, it'll be worse if you do."

They marched off across the dark grounds. Neville kept sniffing. Jessica wondered what their punishment might be. It must be something really horrible, or Filch wouldn't be sounding so delighted.

The moon was bright, but clouds scudding across it kept throwing them into darkness. Ahead, Jessica could see the lighted windows of Hagrid's hut. Then they heard a distant shout.

"Is that you, Filch? Hurry up, I want ter get started."

Jessica's heart rose; if they were going to be with Hagrid it wouldn't be so bad. Harry looked relived as well, which Filch noticed, "I suppose you think you'll be enjoying yourself with that oaf? Well, think again, boy – it's into the forest you're going and I'm very much mistaken if you'll all come out in one piece."

At this, Neville let out a little moan and Malfoy stopped dead in his tracks.

"The forest?" he repeated, and he didn't sound quite as cool as usual. "We can't go in there at night – there's werewolves in there, I heard."

Neville clutched the sleeve of Harry's robe and made a choking noise.

"That's your lookout, isn't it?" said Filch, his voice cackling with glee. "Should've thought of them werewolves before you got in trouble, shouldn't you?"

Hagrid came striding towards them out of the dark, Fang at his heel. He was carrying his large crossbow, a quiver of arrows hung over his shoulder.

"Abou' time," he said. "I bin waitin' fer half an hour already. All right, Harry, Jessica, Hermione?"

"I shouldn't be too friendly to them, Hagrid," said Filch coldly, "they're here to be punished, after all."

"That's why yer late, is it?" said Hagrid, frowning at Filch. "Bin lecturin' them, eh? 'Snot yer place ter do that. Yeh've done yer bit, I'll take over from here."

"I'll be back at dawn," said Filch, "for what's left of them," he added nastily, and he turned and started back towards the castle, his lantern bobbing away in the darkness.

Malfoy now turned to Hagrid.

"I'm not going into that forest," he said, and Jessica was pleased to hear the note of panic in his voice.

"Yeh are if yeh want ter stay at Hogwarts," said Hagrid fiercely. "Yeh've done wrong an' now yeh've got ter pay for it."

"But this is servant stuff, it's not for students to do. I thought I'd be writing lines, if my father knew I was doing this –"

"– tell yer that's how it is at Hogwarts," Hagrid growled. "Writin' lines! What good's that to anyone? Yeh'll do summat useful or yeh'll get out. If yeh think yer father'd rather you were expelled, than get back off ter the castle an' pack. Go on!"

Malfoy didn't move. He looked t Hagrid furiously but then dropped his gaze.

"Right then," said Hagrid, "now, listen carefully 'cause it's dangerous what we're gonna do tonight an' I don't want no one takin' risks. Follow me over here a moment."

He led them to the very edge of the forest. Holding his lamp up high he pointed down a narrow, winding earth track that disappeared into the thick black trees. A light breeze lifted their hair as they looked into the forest

"Look there," said Hagrid, "see that stuff shinin' on the ground? That's unicorn blood. There's a unicorn in there bin hurt badly by summat. This is the second time in a week. I found one dead last Wednesday. We're gonna try an' find the poor thing. We might have ter put it out of its misery."

"And what if whatever hurt the unicorn finds us first?" said Malfoy, unable to keep the fear out of his voice.

"There's nothin' that lives in the forest that'll hurt ye if yer with me or Fang," Hagrid said. "An' keep ter the path. Right, now, we're gonna split inter two parties an' follow the trail in diff'rent directions. There's blood all over the place, it must've bin stagerin' around since last night at least."

"I want Fang," said Malfoy quickly, looking at Fang's long teeth.

"All right, but I warn yeh, he's a coward," said Hagrid. "So me, Harry, Hermione and Jessica'll go one way an' Draco Neville an' Fang'll go the other. Now, if any of us finds the unicorn, we'll send up green sparks, right? Get yer wands out an' practice now – that's it – an' if anyone gets in trouble, send up red sparks, an' we'll all come an' find yeh – so, be careful – let's go."

The forest was black and silent. A little way into it they reached a fork in the earth path and Jessica, Harry, Hermione and Hagrid took the left path, while Malfoy, Neville and Fang took the right.

They walked in silence, their eyes on the ground. Even now and then a ray of moonlight through the branches above lit a spot of silver-blue blood on the fallen leaves.

Jessica could see that Hagrid looked very worried.

"_Could _a werewolf be killing the unicorns?" asked Harry.

"Not fast enough," said Hagrid. "It's not easy ter catch a unicorn, they're powerful magical creatures. I never knew one to be hurt before."

They walked past a mossy tree-stump. Jessica could hear running water, there must be a stream somewhere nearby. There were still spots of unicorn blood here and there along the winding path.

"You all right, Hermione?" Hagrid whispered. "Don't worry, it can't have gone far if it's this badly hurt an' then we'll be able ter – GET BEHIND THAT TREE!"

Hagrid seized Harry, Jessica and Hermione and hoisted them off the path behind a towering oak. He pulled out an arrow and fitted it into his crossbow, raising it, ready to fire. The four of them listened. Something was slithering over dead leaves nearby: it sounded like a cloak trailing along the ground. Hagrid was squinting up the dark path, but after a few seconds, the sound faded away.

"I knew it," he murmured. "There's summat in here that shouldn't be."

"A werewolf?" suggested Harry,

Jessica almost laughed, "That's not the sound a werewolf would make!"

"How do you know, Jess?" asked Hermione.

"Er … I just do, trust me."

"She's right, that was no werewolf, an' it wasn't no unicorn neither," said Hagrid grimly. "Right, follow me, but be careful, now."

They walked forward more slowly, ears straining for the faintest sound. Suddenly, in a clearing ahead, something definitely moved.

"Who's there?" Hagrid called. "Show yourself – I'm armed!"

And into the clearing came – was it man, or horse? To the waist, a man, with red hair and beard, but below that was a horse's gleaming chestnut body with a long, reddish tail. Harry, Jessica and Hermione's jaws dropped.

"Oh, it's you, Ronan," said Hagrid in relief. "How are ye?"

He walked forward and shook the centaur's hand.

"Good evening to you, Hagrid," said Ronan. He had a deep, sorrowful voice. "Were you going to shoot me?"

"Can't be too careful, Ronan," said Hagrid, patting his crossbow. "There's summat bad lose in this forest. This is Harry Potter, Jessica Lupin an' Hermione Granger, by the way. Students up at the school. An' this is Ronan, you three. He's a centaur."

"We've noticed," said Hermione faintly.

"Good evening," said Ronan. "Students, are you? And do you learn much, up at the school?"

"A bit," said Hermione timidly.

"A bit. Well that's something." Ronan sighed. He flung back his head and stared at the sky. "Mars is bright tonight."

"Yeah," said Hagrid, glancing up too. "Listen, I'm glad we've run into yeh, Ronan, 'cause there's a unicorn bin hurt – you seen anythin'?"

Ronan didn't answer immediately. He stared unblinking upwards, then sighed again.

"Always the innocent are the first victims," he said. "So it has been for ages past, so it is now."

Yeah," said Hagrid. "But have you seen anythin', Ronan? Anythin' unusual?"

"Mars is bright tonight," Ronan repeated while Hagrid watched him impatiently. "Unusually bright."

"Yeah, but I was meanin' anything unusual nearer home," said Hagrid. "So yeh haven't noticed anythin' strange?"

Yet again, Ronan took a while to answer. At last, he said, "The forest hides many secrets."

A movement in the trees behind Ronan made Hagrid raise his bow again, but it was only a second centaur, black-haired and bodied and wilder looking than Ronan.

"Hullo, Bane," said Hagrid. "All right?"

"Good evening, Hagrid, I hope you are well?"

"Well enough. Look, I've jus' bin askin' Ronan, you seen anythin' odd in here lately? Only there's a unicorn bin injured – would yeh know anythin' about it?"

Bane walked over to stand next to Ronan. He looked skywards.

"Mars is bright tonight," he said simply.

"We've heard," said Hagrid grumpily. "Well, if either of you do see anythin', let me know, won't ye? We'll be off then."

Harry, Jessica and Hermione followed him out of the clearing, staring over their shoulders at Ronan and Bane until the trees blocked their view.

"Never," said Hagrid irritably "try an' get a straight answer out of a centaur. Ruddy stargazers. Not interested in anythin' closer'n the moon."

"Are there many of _them_ in here?" asked Hermione.

"Oh, a fair few … keep themselves to themselves mostly, but they're good at turning up if ever I want a word. They're deep, mind, centaurs … they know things … jus' don' let on much."

"Do you think it was a centaur we heard earlier?" said Harry.

"Did that sound like hooves to you? Nah, if yeh ask me, that was what's bin killin' the unicorns – never heard anythin' like it before."

They walked on through the dense, dark trees. Jessica kept looking nervously over her shoulder. She had the uneasy feeling they were being watched. She was very glad Hagrid had his crossbow with them. They had just passed a bend in the path when Hermione grabbed Hagrid's arm.

"Hagrid! Look! Red sparks, the others are in trouble!"

"You three wait here!" Hagrid shouted. "Stay on the path, I'll come back for yeh!"

They heard him crashing through the undergrowth and stood looking at each other, very scared, until they couldn't hear anything but the rustling of leaves around them.

"You don't think they've been hurt, do you?" whispered Hermione.

"I don't care if Malfoy has, but if something's got Neville … it's our fault he's here in the first place."

The minutes dragged by. Their ears seemed sharper than usual. Jessica's seemed to be picking up every sigh of the wind, every cracking twig. What was going on? Where were the others?

At last, a great crunching noise announced Hagrid's return. Malfoy, Neville and Fang were with him. Hagrid was fuming. Malfoy, it seemed, had snuck up behind Neville and grabbed him for a joke. Neville had panicked and sent up the sparks.

"We'll be lucky ter catch anythin' now, with all the racket you two were makin'. Right, we're changin' groups – Neville, you stay with me, Hermione an' Jessica, Harry, you go with Fang an' this idiot."

So they set out again, this time with Neville whimpering by Jessica's side. Every few minutes she would whisper, "it's fine Neville, we're with Hagrid," or "there's nothing to be scared of, we'll be out before you know it."

They walked for almost half an hour, deeper and deeper into the forest, until the path became almost impossible to follow because the trees were so thick. Jessica thought the blood seemed to be getting thinner. The splashes of blood were becoming smaller, and there was more distance between them, as if the unicorn had initially come this way, but taken a different path to evade whatever was chasing it. Suddenly, the blood vanished completely.

"Well, I s'pose this is it," said Hagrid. "We'd better go back an' meet up with the others."

Neville let out a sigh of relief and Jessica let out a breath she didn't realise she'd been holding.

Then a dull pain rippled on her neck, it was as though her scar was an ember on a dying flame, but it didn't really feel as though it was her pain, it was an imitation of a real pain somewhere. She placed the hand over it, but her cold palm wouldn't soothe it.

"Jess?" said Hermione.

"Sorry, I, er, zoned out. What is it?" said Jessica.

"We're heading back. Are you OK?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Well, you suddenly grabbed your neck and you don't normally miss much in a conversation."

"No, really, I'm fine, my neck just twinged a little. It's nothing." Jessica's scar was still lightly throbbing under her fingertips. "Lets go."

The pain in Jessica's scar subsided after a minute or two, and not a second after it did, a wild yell pierced the silent night.

"AAAAAAAAAAARGH!" before anyone had time to react, Malfoy came tearing through the trees, yelling and screaming, with Fang at his heels. He didn't even stop when he reached them; he was just trying to get back to the school as fast as he could. Fang stopped and whimpered between Hagrid's legs.

"Hullo Fang, wait, where's Harry?" said Hagrid.

"He'll be just behind them. Harry? HARRY!" said Jessica, with a growing sense of dread when there was no answer.

The others joined in. "HARRY! HARRY? Where are you?"

They scanned the sky for red sparks but there were none.

After many tense minutes of walking back through the forest, frantically looking around them for Harry, Hermione let out a yell that made everyone jump. "Harry! Harry, are you all right?" she went running down the path towards yet another centaur, this one looked younger than Bane and Ronan; he had long blonde hair and a palomino body and on his back, looking relatively unharmed, was Harry.

Jessica ran with Hermione up to him, followed by a puffing Hagrid.

"I'm fine," said Harry. "The unicorn's dead, Hagrid, it's in the clearing back there."

"This is where I leave you," the centaur murmured as Hagrid hurried off to examine the unicorn. "You are safe now."

Harry slid off the centaur's back.

"Good luck, Harry Potter," he said. "The planets have been read wrongly before now, even by centaurs. I hope this is one of those times."

He turned and cantered back into the depths of the forest, leaving Harry, Jessica, Hermione and Neville shivering behind him.

"Who was that?" asked Jessica.

"Firenze the centaur," said Harry, "he saved me from Voldemort."

"What? And, please don't say the name."

"I'll tell you when we get back to the common-room."

Ron had fallen asleep in the dark common-room, waiting for them to return. He shouted something about Quidditch fouls when Harry shook him roughly awake. In a matter of seconds, though, he was wide-eyed as Harry began to tell them what had happened in the forest.

"So after we found the unicorn, and Malfoy bolted with Fang, there was cloaked figure. It was drinking the unicorn blood because it makes you live longer, but a kind of cursed life."

"So like the Philosopher's Stone, except with side effects?" asked Jessica.

"Yeah, anyway, my scar began the sting and the figure started coming towards me. But luckily Firenze came and saved me. He told me that the stars said something was coming, and than he said whom the cloaked figure was. It was Voldemort." He was pacing up and down the common-room. "Snape wants the stone for Voldemort … and Voldemort's waiting in the forest … and all this time we thought Snape just wanted to get rich …"

"Stop saying the name!" said Ron in a terrified whisper, as if he thought Voldemort could hear him.

Harry didn't listen.

"Firenze saved me, but he shouldn't have done … Bane was furious … he was talking about interfering with what the planets say are going to happen … They must show that Voldemort's coming back …Bane thinks Firenze should have let Voldemort kill me … I suppose that's written in the stars as well."

"_Will you stop saying the name!_" Ron hissed.

"So all I've got to wait for now is Snape to steal the stone," Harry went on feverishly, "then Voldemort will be able to come and finish me off … Well, I suppose Bane'll be happy."

Hermione looked very frightened, but she had a word of comfort.

"Harry, everyone says Dumbledore's the only one You-Know-Who was ever afraid of. With Dumbledore around, You-Know-Who won't touch you. Anyway, who says the centaurs are right? It sounds like fortune-telling to me, and Professor McGonagall say that's a very imprecise branch of magic."

The sky had turned light before they had stopped talking. They went to bed exhausted, their throats sore. Jessica had barely touched the pillow with her head when she fell asleep.


	16. Through the Trapdoor

Hey everyone. Sorry this chapter took so long, I'm easily distracted so I'm not too good at sitting down and writing a chapter, not to mention I'm pretty sure this is the longest chapter so far.

**Jessica Potter and the Philosopher's Stone**

**Chapter 16**

**Though the Trapdoor**

In years to come, Jessica would never quite remember how she had gotten through the exams when she half expected Voldemort to come crashing through the door to kill Harry at any moment. Yet the days crept by and there could be no doubt that Fluffy was still alive and well behind the locked door.

It was sweltering hot, especially in the large classroom where they did their written papers. They had been given new, special quills for the exams, which had been bewitched with an anti-cheating spell.

They had practical exams as well. Professor Flitwick called them into his class one by one to see if they could make a pineapple tap dance across a desk. Professor McGonagall watched them turn a mouse into a snuff-box – points were given on how pretty the snuff-box was, but taken away if it had whiskers. Snape made them all nervous, breathing down their necks as they tried to remember how to make a forgetfulness potion.

Jessica did the best she could, ignoring the stabbing pains in her neck that had been bothering her since her trip into the forest.

Maybe it was because of what he'd seen in the forest, but Harry became much more worried about the Stone. Jessica was a little concerned, but it didn't seem like Hermione or Ron were worried in the slightest. The idea of Voldemort certainly scared them, but they were all too busy with revision to spend much time worrying what Snape or anyone else might be up to.

Their very last exam was History of Magic. One hour of answering questions about batty old wizards who'd invented self-stirring cauldrons and they'd be free, free for a whole wonderful week before their exam results came out. When the ghost of Professor Binns told them to put down their quills and roll up their parchment, Jessica couldn't help cheering with the rest.

"That was far easier than I thought it would be," said Hermione, as they joined the crowds flocking out to the sunny grounds. "I needn't have learnt about the 1937 Werewolf Code of Conduct or the uprising of Elfric the Eager."

"I'm glad though, I couldn't remember anything about Elfric the Eager," said Jessica.

Hermione and Jessica liked to go through their exam papers afterwards, but Ron said this made him feel ill, so they wandered down to the lake and flopped under a tree. The Weasley twins and Lee Jordan were tickling the tentacles of the giant squid, which was basking in the warm shallows.

"No more revision," sighed Ron happily, stretching out on the grass. "You could look more happy, Harry, we've got a week before we find out how badly we've done, there's no need to worry yet."

Harry was rubbing his forehead.

"I wish I knew what this _means_!" he burst out angrily. "My scar keeps hurting – it's happened before, but never as often as this."

"Go to Madam Pomfrey," Hermione suggested.

"I'm not ill," said Harry. "I think it's a warning … it means danger's coming …"

Ron couldn't get worked up, it was too hot.

"Harry, relax, Hermione's right, the Stone's safe as long as Dumbledore's around. Anyway, we've never had any proof Snape found out how to get past Fluffy. He nearly had his leg ripped off once, he's not going to try again in a hurry. And Neville will play Quidditch for England before Hagrid lets Dumbledore down."

Harry nodded. "But it feels like there's something important that I've forgotten to do."

"It'll just be the exams," said Jessica, even though she felt it wasn't to do with exams at all. "Last night I started revising for our Herbology exam, before I remembered we'd done that one already."

They watched an owl flutter towards the school across the bright blue sky, a note clamped in its mouth. Harry suddenly jumped to his feet.

"Where're you going?" said Ron sleepily.

"I've just thought of something," said Harry. He had gone white. "We've got to go see Hagrid, now."

"Why?" panted Hermione, hurrying to keep up.

"Don't you think it's a bit odd," said Harry, scrambling up the grassy slope, 'that what Hagrid wants more than anything else is a dragon, and a stranger turns up who just happens to have an egg in his pocket? How many people wander around with dragon eggs if it's against wizard law? Lucky they found Hagrid, don't you think? Why didn't I see it before?"

"What are you on about?" said Ron, but Harry, who was sprinting across the grounds towards the forest, didn't answer.

Hagrid was sitting in an armchair outside his house; his trousers and sleeves were pulled up and he was shelling peas into a large bowl.

"Hullo," he said, smiling. "Finished yer exams? Got time fer a drink?"

"Yes, please," said Ron, but Harry cut across him.

"No, we're in a hurry. Hagrid I've got to ask you something. You know that night you won Norbert? What did the stranger you were playing cards with look like?"

"Dunno," said Hagrid casually "he wouldn't take his cloak off."

He saw the four of them look stunned and raised his eyebrows.

"It's not that unusual, yeh get a lot o' funny folk in the Hog's head – that's the pub down in the village. Mighta bin a dragon dealer, might'n he? I never saw his face, he kept his hood up."

Harry sank down next to the bowl of peas.

What did you talk about, Hagrid? Did you mention Hogwarts at all?"

"Mighta come up," said Hagrid, frowning as he tried to remember. "Yeah … he asked what I did an' I told him I was gamekeeper here … he asked about the sorta creatures I look after … so I told him … an' I said what I'd always really wanted was a dragon … an' then … I can' remember too well, 'cause he kept buyin' me drinks … Lets see … yeah, then he said he had the dragon egg an' we could play cards for it if I wanted … but he had ter be sure I could handle it, he didn' want it ter go ter any old home … so I told him, after Fluffy, a dragon would be easy …"

"And did he – did he seem interested in Fluffy?" Harry asked.

"Well – yeah – how many three-headed dogs d'yeh meet, even around Hogwarts? So I told him, Fluffy's a piece o' cake if yeh know how to calm him down, jus' play him a bit o' music an' he'll go straight off ter sleep –"

Hagrid suddenly looked horrified.

"I shouldn'ta told yeh that!" he blurted out. "Forget I said it! Hey – where're yeh goin'?"

Harry, Jessica, Ron and Hermione didn't speak to each other until they all came to a halt in the entrance hall, which seemed very cold and gloomy after the grounds.

"We've got to get to Dumbledore," said Harry. "Hagrid told that stranger how to get past Fluffy and it was either Snape or Voldemort under that cloak – it must've been easy, once he'd got Hagrid drunk. I just hope Dumbledore believes us. Firenze might back us up if Bane doesn't stop him. Where's Dumbledore's office?"

They looked around, as if hoping to see a sign pointing them in the right direction. They had never been told where Dumbledore lived, nor did they know anyone who had been sent to see him.

"We'll just have to –" Harry began, , but a voice suddenly rang across the hall.

"What are you four doing inside?"

It was Professor McGonagall, carrying a large pile of books.

"We want to see Professor Dumbledore," said Hermione, rather bravely, the others thought.

"See Professor Dumbledore?" Professor McGonagall repeated, as though this was a very fishy thing to do. "Why?"

Jessica swallowed – now what?

"It's sort of a secret," said Harry, but Professor McGonagall's nostrils flared.

"Professor Dumbledore left ten minutes ago," she said coldly. "He received an urgent owl from the Ministry of Magic and flew off for London at once."

"He's _gone_?" said Harry frantically. "_Now?_"

"Professor Dumbledore is a very great wizard, Potter, he has many demands on his time –"

"But this is important."

"Something you have to say is more important than the Ministry of Magic, Potter?"

"Look," said Harry, throwing caution to the winds, "Professor, it's about the Philosopher's Stone –"

Whatever Professor McGonagall had expected, it wasn't that. The books she was carrying tumbled out of her arms but she didn't pick them up.

"How do you know –?" she spluttered.

"Professor, I think – I _know _– that Sn – that someone's going to try and steal the Stone. I've got to talk to Professor Dumbledore."

She eyed him with a mixture of shock and suspicion.

"Professor Dumbledore will be back tomorrow," she said finally. "I don't know how you found out about the Stone, but rest assured, no one can possibly steal it, it's too tell protected."

"But Professor –"

"Potter – I know what I'm talking about," she said shortly. She bent down and gathered up the fallen books. "I suggest you all go back outside and enjoy the sunshine.

But they didn't.

"It's tonight," said Harry, once Professor McGonagall was out of earshot. "Snape's going through the trapdoor tonight. He's found out everything he needs and now he's got Dumbledore out of the way. He sent that note, I bet the Ministry of Magic will get a real shock when Dumbledore turns up."

"But what can we –"

Hermione gasped. The other three wheeled around.

Snape was standing there.

"Good afternoon," he said smoothly.

They stared at him.

"You shouldn't be inside on a day like this," he said, with an odd, twisted smile.

"We were –"Harry began, he obviously had no idea what he was going to say.

"You want to be more careful," said Snape. "Hanging around like this, people will think you're up to something. And Gryffindor really can't afford to lose more points, can they?"

They turned to go back outside, but Snape called them back.

"Be warned, Potter – any more night-time wanderings and I will personally make sure you are expelled. Good day to you."

He strode off in the direction of the staffroom.

Out on the stone steps, Harry turned to the others.

"Right, here's what we've got to do," he whispered urgently. "Two of us have got to keep an eye on Snape – wait outside the staffroom and follow him if he leaves it. Hermione and Jessica, you'd better do that."

"Why us?"

"It's obvious," said Ron. "You can pretend to be waiting for Professor Flitwick, you know." He put on a high voice. "Oh, Professor Flitwick, I'm so worried, I think I got question fourteen b wrong …"

"Oh shut up," said Hermione, but they both agreed to go and watch out for Snape.

They headed off to the staffroom.

"I hope this works," said Jessica.

They reached the staffroom door and stood out side it, waiting.

Before long the door opened, and Snape stepped out. "What are you doing here? I thought I said to go outside." He said coldly.

"We were, er, looking for Professor Flitwick," said Hermione quietly.

"Very well, I will get him," said Snape. Then he swept away.

"Now what do we do?" whispered Jessica.

"Run," said Hermione.

They took off along the corridor, sprinting back to the common-room. When they arrived, Harry and Ron were already there.

"I'm sorry, Harry!" wailed Hermione, she then told then what happened.

"We're so sorry, we don't know where Snape's gone," said Jessica.

"Well that's it then, isn't it?" Harry said.

The other three stared at him. He was pale and his eyes were glittering.

"I'm going out of here tonight and I'm going to try and get the Stone first."

"You're mad!" said Ron.

"You can't!" said Hermione. "After what McGonagall and Snape said? You'll be expelled!"

"SO WHAT?" Harry shouted. "Don't you understand? If Snape gets hold of the Stone, Voldemort's coming back! Haven't you heard what it was like when he was trying to take over? There won't be any Hogwarts to be expelled from! He'll flatten it, or turn it into a school for the Dark Arts! Losing points won't matter any more, can't you see? D'you think he'll leave you and your families alone if Gryffindor win the house cup? If I get caught before I can get to the Stone, I'll have to back to the Dursleys and wait for Voldemort to find me there. It's only dying a bit later than I would've done, because I'm never going to the Dark side! I'm going through the trapdoor tonight and nothing you three say is going to stop me! Voldemort killed my parents, remember?"

He glared at them.

"You think I don't know that already?" said Jessica. "It was him or one of those hideous followers of his that killed _my _parents, too. You're not the only orphan because of him, Harry."

"Yeah, you're right," said Hermione in a small voice.

"I'll use the invisibility cloak," said Harry. "It's just lucky I got it back."

"But will it cover all four of us?" said Ron.

"All – all four of us?"

"Oh come off it – you didn't think we'd let you go alone?"

"Of course not," said Hermione briskly. "How do you think you'd get to the Stone without us? I'd better go look through my books, there might be something useful …"

"But if we get caught, you three will be expelled, too."

"Not if I can help it," said Jessica grimly. "Professor Flitwick told me in secret that I got a hundred and thirteen per cent on his exam and Hermione got a hundred and twelve. They're not throwing us out after that."

After dinner the four of them sat nervously apart in the Gryffindor common-room. Nobody bothered them; none of the Gryffindors had anything to say to them anyway. Hermione and Jessica were skimming through all their notes, hoping to come across one of the enchantments they were about to try and break. Harry and Ron didn't talk much, they were thinking about what they were about to do.

Slowly, the room emptied as people drifted off to bed.

"Better get the cloak," Ron muttered as Lee Jordan finally left, stretching and yawning. Harry ran up to the dormitory, and within minutes he was back in the common-room.

"We'd better put the cloak on here, and make sure it covers all four of us – if Filch spots one of our feet wandering around on its own –"

"What are you doing?" said a voice from the corner of the room. Neville appeared from behind an armchair, clutching Trevor the toad, who looked as though he'd been making another bid for freedom.

"Nothing, Neville, nothing," said Harry, hurriedly putting the cloak behind his back.

Neville stared at their guilty faces.

"You're going out again," he said.

"No, no, no," said Hermione. "No, we're not. Why don't you go to bed, Neville?"

Jessica glanced at the grandfather clock by the door. They couldn't afford to waste anymore time, Snape might even now be playing Fluffy to sleep.

"You can't go out," said Neville, "you'll be caught again, Gryffindor will be in even more trouble."

"You don't understand," said Harry, "this is important."

But Neville was clearly steeling himself to do something desperate.

"I won't let you do it," he said, hurrying to stand in front of the portrait hole. "I'll – I'll fight you!"

"_Neville_," Ron exploded, "get away from that hole and don't be an idiot –"

"Don't you call me an idiot!" said Neville. "I don't think you should be breaking any more rules! And you were the one who told me to stand up to people!"

"Yes, but not to _us_," said Ron in exasperation. "Neville, you don't know what you're doing."

He took a step forward and Neville dropped Trevor the toad, who leapt out of sight.

"Go on then, try and hit me!" said Neville, raising his fists. "I'm ready!"

Harry turned to Hermione.

"_Do something_," he said desperately.

Hermione stepped forward.

"Neville," she said, "I'm really, really sorry about this."

She raised her wand.

"_Petrificus Totalus!_" she cried, pointing it at Neville.

Neville's arms snapped to his sides. His legs sprang together. His whole body rigid, he swayed where he stood and then fell flat on his face, stiff as a board.

Hermione ran to turn him over. Neville's jaws were jammed together so he couldn't speak. Only his eyes were moving, looking at them in horror.

"What've you done to him?" Harry whispered.

"Oh don't worry, it's just the full Body-Bind, we can perform the counter-curse when we get back," said Jessica.

"Oh Neville, I'm so sorry," said Hermione miserably.

"We had to, Neville, no time to explain," said Harry.

"You'll understand later, Neville," said Ron, as they stepped over him and pulled on the invisibility cloak.

But leaving Neville lying motionless on the floor didn't seem like a very good omen. In their nervous state, every statue's shadow looked like Filch, every distant breath of wind sounded like Peeves swooping down on them.

At the foot of the first flight of stairs, they spotted Mrs Norris skulking near the top.

"Oh, lets kick her, just this once," Ron whispered, but Harry shook his head. As they climbed carefully around her, Mrs Norris turned her lamp-like eyes on them, but didn't do anything.

They didn't meet anyone else until they reached the staircase up to the third floor. Peeves was bobbing halfway up, loosening the carpet so that people would trip.

"Who's there?" he said suddenly as they climbed towards him. He narrowed his wicked black eyes. "Know you're there, even I can't see you. Are you ghoulie or ghostie or wee student beastie?"

He rose in the air and floated there, squinting at them.

"Should call Filch, I should, if something's a-creeping around unseen."

"Peeves," said Harry in a horse whisper, "the Bloody Baron has his own reasons for being invisible."

Peeves almost fell out of the air in shock. He caught himself in time and hovered a foot above the stairs.

"So sorry, your Bloodiness, Mr Baron, sir," he said greasily. "My mistake, my mistake – I didn't see you – of course I didn't, you're invisible – forgive old Peevsie his little joke, sir."

"I have business here, Peeves," croaked Harry. "Stay away from this place tonight."

"I will, sir, I most certainly will," said Peeves, rising into the air again. "Hope your business goes well, Baron, I'll not bother you."

And he scooted off.  
>"<em>Brilliant<em>, Harry!" whispered Ron.

A few seconds later, they were there, outside the third floor corridor – and the door was already ajar.

"Well, there you are," Harry said quietly. "Snape's already got past Fluffy."

Seeing the door open somehow seemed to impress upon all four of them what was facing them. Underneath the cloak, Harry turned to the other three.

"If you want to back, I won't blame you," he said. "You can take the cloak, I won't need it now."

"Don't be stupid," said Ron

"There's no way we're letting you go alone," said Jessica.

"We're coming," said Hermione.

Harry pushed the door open.

As the door creaked, low, rumbling growls met their ears. All three of the dog's noses sniffed madly in their direction, even though it couldn't see them.

"What's that at it's feet?" Hermione whispered.

"Looks like a harp," said Ron. "Snape must have left it there."

"It must wake up the moment you stop playing," said Harry. "Well, here goes …"

He put a small wooden flute to his lips and blew. It wasn't really a tune, but from the first note the beast's eyes began to droop. Slowly, the dog's growls ceased – it tottered on its and fell to its knees, then it slumped to the ground, fast asleep.

"Keep playing," Ron warned Harry as they slipped out of the cloak and crept towards the trapdoor. They could feel the dog's hot, smelly breath as they approached the giant heads.

"I think we'll be able to pull the door open," said Ron, peering over the dog's back. "Want to go first, Hermione?"

"No, I don't!"

"What about you, Jessica?"

"Absolutely not!"

"All right," Ron gritted his teeth and stepped carefully over the dog's legs. He bent and pulled the ring of the trapdoor, which swung up and open.

"What can you see?" said Hermione anxiously.

"Nothing – just black -there's no way of climbing down, we'll just have to drop."

Harry, who was still playing the flute, waved at Ron, and then pointed at himself.

"You want to go first? Are you sure?" said Ron. "I don't know how deep this thing goes. Give the flute to Hermione so she can keep him asleep."

"No, I've got it," said Jessica. She didn't want the dog to wake up when Harry stopped playing, so she began to sing the first song that came into her head.

"_Hogwarts, Hogwarts, Hoggy Warty Hogwarts, teach us something please …_"

Harry climbed over to the trapdoor and lowered himself through the hole until he was hanging on with his fingertips. Then he looked up at Ron and said, "If anything happens to me, don't follow. Go straight to the owlery and send Hedwig to Dumbledore, right?"

"Right," said Ron.

"See you in a minute, I hope …"

He let go and fell out of sight.

"It's OK!" he called. "It's a soft landing, you can jump."

Ron leapt down straightaway, followed by Hermione. "I hope Harry knows what he's doing," mumbled Jessica as she too, jumped down the trapdoor. Cold, damp air rushed past her as she fell down, down, down, and –

FLUMP. With a funny, muffled sort of thump, she landed on something soft. She sat up and looked around, she couldn't see much as it was dark and gloomy, but it felt as though she was sitting on some sort of plant.

"We must be miles under the school," said Hermione.

"Lucky this plant thing's here, really," said Ron.

"_Lucky!_" shrieked Hermione. "Look at yourselves!"  
>She leapt up and struggled towards a damp wall. She had to struggle because the moment she had landed, the plant had started to twist snakelike tendrils around her ankles. Jessica looked to Harry and Ron, their legs already tightly bound in long creeper. She looked down in horror to see that the plant had started to bind her ankles too. She reached down to desperately tear the plant off her it grabbed hold of her wrist, forcing her to awkwardly lie on her side.<p>

"Stop moving!" Hermione ordered them. "I know what this is – it's Devil's Snare!"

"Oh, I'm so glad I know what it's called, that's a great help," snarled Ron, leaning back, trying to stop the plant curling around his neck.

"Shut up, I'm trying to remember how to kill it!" said Hermione.

"Well, hurry up, I can't breathe!" Harry gasped, wrestling with it as it curled around his chest.

"Devil's Snare, Devil's Snare … What did Professor Sprout say?"

"It likes the damp and the dark!" croaked Jessica as the Devil's Snare wrapped around her throat and tightened its grip.

"So light a fire!" Harry choked.

"Yes – of course – but there's no wood!" Hermione cried, wringing her hands.

"HAVE YOU GONE MAD?" Ron bellowed. "ARE YOU A WITCH OR NOT?"

"Oh, right!" said Hermione, and she whipped out her wand, waved it, muttered something and sent a jet of the same bluebell flames she had used on Snape at the plant. In a matter of seconds, they felt it loosening its grip as it cringed away from the light and warmth. Wriggling and flailing, it unravelled itself from their bodies and they were able to pull free.

"Lucky you two pay attention in Herbology," said Harry as he joined Hermione by the wall, wiping sweat off his face.

"Yeah," said Ron, " and lucky Harry and Jessica don't lose their heads in a crisis – 'there's no wood,' _honestly._"

"This way," said Harry, pointing down a stone passageway which was the only way on.

All they could hear apart from their footsteps was the gentle drip of water trickling down the walls. The passageway was sloped downwards and Jessica was reminded of Gringotts. With an unpleasant jolt of the heart, she thought of the rumours of a dragon guarding the vaults there. If they met a dragon, a fully-grown dragon – Norbert had been bad enough …

"Can you hear something?" Ron whispered.

Jessica listened. A soft clicking and rustling seemed to be coming from up ahead.

"Do you think it's a ghost?"

"I don't know … sounds like wings to me."

"There's light ahead – I can see something moving."

They reached the end of the passageway and saw before them a brilliantly-lit chamber, its ceiling high above them. It was full so small, jewel-bright birds, fluttering and tumbling all around the room. On the opposite side of the chamber was a heavy, wooden door.

"Do you think they'll attack us if we cross the room?" asked Ron.

"Probably," said Harry. "They don't look very vicious, but I suppose if they all swooped down at once … well, there's nothing for it … I'll run."

He took a deep breath, covered his face with his arms and sprinted across the room. Jessica expected to claws and beaks tear at him at any second, but nothing happened. He reached the door untouched. He pulled the handle, but it was locked.

The other three followed him. They tugged and heaved at the door, but it wouldn't budge, not even when both Hermione and Jessica tried the Alohomora charm.

"Now what?" said Ron.

"Those birds … they can't be here just for decoration," said Hermione.

They watched the birds soaring overhead, glittering – _glittering_?

"They're not birds!" said Harry suddenly, "they're keys! Winged keys – look carefully. So that must mean …" he looked around the chamber as the other three squinted up at the flock of keys. "… Yes – look! Broomsticks! We've got to catch the key to the door!"

"But there are _hundreds _of them!"

Ron examined the lock on the door.

"We're looking for a big, old fashioned one – probably silver, like the handle."

They seized a broomstick each and kicked off into the air, soaring into the midst of the cloud of keys. They grabbed and snatched but the bewitched keys darted and dived so quickly it was almost impossible to catch one.

Not for nothing, though, Harry and Jessica were the seekers in a century they had a knack for spotting things other people didn't. After a minute's weaving about through the whirl of rainbow feathers, Harry spotted a large silver key that had a bent wing, Jessica noticed it almost right after.

"That one!" Harry called to the others. "That big one – there – no, there – with bright-blue wings – the feathers are all crumpled on one side."

Ron went speeding in the direction that Harry was pointing, crashed into the ceiling and nearly fell off his broom.

"We've got to close in on it!" Harry called, not taking his eyes off the key with the damaged wing. "Ron, you come at it from above – Hermione, stay below and stop it going down – Jessica, you come at it from the side and I'll take it from the other side to try and catch it. Right, NOW!"

Ron dived, Hermione rocketed upwards, the key dodged them both and Harry and Jessica streaked after it, on opposite sides; it sped towards the wall, dodged Jessica's hand and with a horrible crunching noise, Harry pinned it against the stone with one hand. Ron, Hermione and Jessica's cheers echoed around the high chamber.

They landed quickly and Harry ran to the door, the key struggling in his hand. He rammed it into the lock and turned – it worked. The moment the lock had clicked open, the key took flight again, looking very battered now that it had been caught twice.

"Ready?" Harry asked the others as he put his hand on the door handle. They nodded. He pulled the door open.

The next chamber was so dark they couldn't see anything at all. But as they stepped into it, light suddenly flooded the room to reveal an astonishing sight.

They were standing on the edge of a huge chessboard, behind the black chessmen, which were all taller than they were and carved from what looked like black stone. Facing them, way across the chamber, were the white pieces. Harry, Ron, Jessica and Hermione shivered slightly – the white chessmen had no faces.

"Now what do we do?" Harry whispered.

"It's obvious, isn't it?" said Ron. "We've got to play our way across the room."

Behind the white pieces they could see another door.

"How?" said Hermione nervously.

"I think," said Ron, "we're going to have to be chessmen."

He walked up to a black knight and put his hand out to touch the knight's horse. At once, the stone sprang to life. The horse pawed the ground and the knight turned his helmeted head to look down at Ron.

"Do we – er – have to join you to get across?"

The black knight nodded. Ron turned to the other three.

"This wants talking about …" he said. "I suppose we've got to take the place of four of the black pieces …"

Harry, Hermione and Jessica stayed quiet, watching Ron think. Finally, he said, "Now, don't be offended or anything, but none of you are that good at chess –"

"We're not offended," said Harry quickly. "Just tell us what to do."

"Well, Harry, you take the place of that bishop, Jessica, you go next to him instead of that castle and Hermione, you can take over from the other bishop."

"What about you?"

"I'm going to be a knight," said Ron.

The chess pieces seemed to have been listening because at these words, a knight, two bishops and a castle turned their backs on the white pieces and walked off the board leaving four empty spaces which Harry, Hermione, Jessica and Ron took.

"White always plays first in chess," said Ron, peering across the board. "Yes … look …"

A white pawn had moved forward two spaces.

Ron stared to direct the black pieces. They moved silently wherever he sent them. Jessica's heart beat fast. What if they lost?

"Harry – move diagonally four spaces to the right."

Their first real shock was when their other knight was taken. The white queen smashed him to the floor and dragged him off the board, where he lay quite still, face down.

"Had to let that happen," said Ron, looking shaken. "Leaves you free to take that bishop, Jessica, go on."

Every time one of their men was lost, the white pieces showed no mercy. Soon there was a huddle of limp black players slumped along the wall. Thrice, Ron only just noticed that Harry, Jessica Hermione were in danger. He himself darted around the board taking almost as many pieces as they lost black ones.

"We're nearly there," he muttered suddenly. "Let me think – let me think …"

The white queen turned her blank face towards him.

"Yes …" said Ron softy, "it's the only way … I've got to be taken."

"NO!" the others shouted.

"That's chess!" snapped Ron. "You've got to make some sacrifices! I take one step forward and she'll take me – that leaves you free to take the king, Harry."

"But what if you – er – move Hermione to – no Harry to –"Jessica was trying desperately trying to come with a different plan.

"Do you want to stop Snape or not?"

"Ron –"

"Look, if you don't hurry up, he'll already have the Stone!"

There was nothing else for it.

"Ready?" Ron called, his face pale but determined. "Here I go – now, don't hang around once you've won."

He stepped forward and the white queen pounced. She struck Ron hard around the head with her stone arm and he crashed to the floor – Hermione screamed but stayed on her square – the white queen dragged Ron to one side. He looked as if he'd been knocked out.

Shaking, Harry moved three spaces to the left.

The whit king took off his crown and threw it at Harry's feet. They had won. The chessmen parted and bowed, leaving the door ahead clear. With one last desperate look at Ron, Harry Jessica and Hermione bounded through the door and up through the next passageway.

"What if he's –"

"He'll be alright," said Harry, not sounding convinced. "What do you reckon's next?"

"We've had Sprout's, that was the Devil's Snare – Flitwick must've put charms on the keys – McGonagall transfigured the chessmen to make them alive – that leaves Quirrell's spell, and Snape's …"

They had reached another door.

"All right?" Harry whispered.

"Go on."

Harry pushed it open.

A disgusting smell filled their nostrils, making the three of them pull their robes up over their noses. Eyes watering, they saw, flat on the floor in front of them, a troll even larger than the one they had tackled, out cold with a bloody lump on his head.

"I'm glad we didn't have to fight than one," Harry whispered, as they stepped carefully over one of its massive legs. "Come on, I can't breathe."

He pulled open the next door, all of them hardly daring to look at what came next – but there was nothing very frightening in here, just a table with seven differently-shaped bottles standing on it in a line.

"Snape's," said Harry. "What do we have to do?"

They stepped over the threshold and immediately a fire sprang up behind them in the doorway. It wasn't ordinary fire either; it was purple. At the same instant, black flames shot up in the doorway leading onwards. They were trapped.

"Look!" Hermione seized a roll of paper lying next to the bottles. Jessica looked over her shoulder to read it.

_ Danger lies before you, while safety lies behind,_

_ Two of us will help you, whichever you would find,_

_ One among us seven will let you move ahead,_

_ Another will transport the drinker back instead,_

_ Two among out number hols only nettled wine,_

_ Three of us are killers, waiting hidden in line._

_ Choose, unless you wish to stay here forevermore,_

_ To help you in your choice, we give you these clues four:_

_ First, however slyly the poison tries to hide_

_ You will always find some on nettled wine's left side;_

_ Second, different are those who stand at either end,_

_ But if you would move onwards, neither is your friend;_

_ Third, as you see clearly, all are different size,_

_ Neither dwarf nor giant death in their insides;_

_ Fourth, the second left and second on the right,_

_ Are twins once you taste them, though different at first sight._

Hermione and Jessica both sighed and smiled at each other.

"_Brilliant_," said Hermione. "This isn't magic – it's logic – puzzle. A lot of the greatest wizards haven't got an ounce of logic, they'd be stuck in here forever."

"But so will we, won't we?" said Harry.

"Of course not," said Jessica. "All the information we need is on this paper. It's simple: seven bottles, three are poison, two are wine, one will get us through the black fire and one will get us through the purple."

"But how do we now which one to drink?"

"Give us a minute."

Hermione and Jessica read the parchment several times. Then they walked up and down the line pointing to the bottles and discussing which was which. When they were done, Hermione clapped her hands.

"Got it," she said. "The smallest bottle will get us through the black fire – towards the Stone."

"There's only enough for two of us," said Harry.

They all looked at each other.

"Which one will get you through the purple flames?"

"That one," said Jessica, pointing at a rounded bottle at the right end of the line.

"You drink that," said Harry. "No, listen – get back and get Ron – grab brooms from the flying-key room, they'll get you out the trapdoor and past Fluffy – go straight to the owlery and send Hedwig to Dumbledore, we need him. I might be able to hold Snape off for a while, but I'm no match for him, really."

"But Harry, what if You-Know-Who's with him?"

"Well, I was luck once, wasn't I?" said Harry, pointing at his scar. "I might get lucky again."

Hermione's lip trembled and she suddenly dashed at Harry and threw her arms around him.

"_Hermione!_"

"Harry – you're a great wizard, you know."

I'm not as good as you," he said as she let go of him.

"Me!" said Hermione." Books! And cleverness! There are more important things – friendship and bravery – oh Harry – be careful!"

"I'm so sorry Hermione, I'm going to have to leave you to get Ron on your own – I can't let Harry face Snape or You-Know-Who, who whatever's behind that door alone." Said Jessica.

"Fair enough," said Hermione, hugging Jessica. "Good luck, just b careful, please?"

"OK, we will. You drink first," said Harry. "You two are sure which is which, aren't you?"

"Positive," said the two girls. Hermione took a long drink from the bottle at the end and shuddered.

"It's not poison?" said Harry anxiously.

"No – but it's like ice."

"Quick, go before it wears off."

"Good luck – take care –"

"GO!"

Hermione turned and waled straight through the purple fire.

"Let's go, then," said Jessica.

Harry nodded. He took a deep breath and picked up the smallest bottle. He drained half of it in one gulp.

"See you son the other side," he said, then he walked through the black fire.

Jessica swallowed the rest of the potion. It was like ice flowing through her body. She put the bottle down and walked forward' she braced herself, saw the black flames licking her body but couldn't feel them – for a moment she could see nothing but dark fire – then she was on the other side, in the last chamber.

There was already someone besides Harry there – but it wasn't Snape. It wasn't even Voldemort.


	17. The Man with Two Faces

**Hey guys. Finally, the last chapter! I'll take a little break before I write the Chamber of Secrets, and possibly do some one shots. Until then, the last chapter!**

**Jessica Potter and the Philosopher's Stone**

**Chapter Seventeen**

**The Man with Two Faces**

It was Quirrell.

"_You!_" gasped Harry.

Quirrell smiled. His face wasn't twitching at all.

"Me," he said calmly. "I wondered whether I'd meeting you here, Potter. But I have to say, I didn't expect you, Miss Lupin."

"But we thought – Snape –"

"Severus?" Quirrell laughed and it wasn't his usual quivering tremble, either, but cold and sharp. "Yes, Severus does seem the type, doesn't he? So useful to have him swooping around like an overgrown bat. Next to him, who would suspect p-p-poor st-stuttering P-Professor Quirrell?"

Jessica couldn't take it in. This couldn't be true, I couldn't.

"But Snape tried to kill Harry!"

"No, no, no. _I _tried to kill Harry. Your friend Miss Granger accidentally knocked me over as she rushed to set fire to Snape at that Quidditch match. She broke my eye contact with you. Another few seconds and I would've had you off that broom. I'd managed it before then if Snape hadn't been muttering a counter-curse, trying to save you."

"Snape was trying to _save _me?"

"Of course, "said Quirrell coolly. "Why do you think he wanted to referee your next match? He was trying to make sure I wouldn't do it again. Funny, really … he needn't have bothered, Jessica was Seeker for that match and I couldn't do anything with Dumbledore watching. All the other teachers thought Snape was trying to stop Gryffindor winning, he _did_ make himself unpopular … and what a waste of time, when after all that, I'm going to kill you tonight. I'll have to kill you too, Jessica, make it a nice tidy job."

Quirrell snapped his finger. Ropes sprung out of thin air and wrapped themselves tightly around Jessica and Harry.

"You're too nosy to live. Scurrying around the school at Halloween like that, for all I knew you'd seen me coming to look at what was guarding the Stone."

"_You _let the troll in?"

"Certainly. I have a special gift with trolls – you must've seen what I did to the one in the Chamber back there? Unfortunately, while everyone else was running around looking for it, Snape, who already suspected me, went straight to the third floor to head me off – not only did my troll fail to beat you to death, that three-headed dog didn't manage to bite Snape's leg off properly. Now, wait quietly. I need to examine this interesting mirror."

He turned to a magnificent mirror behind him. It was as high as the ceiling, with an ornate gold frame, standing on two clawed feet. There was an inscription carved around the top: _Erised stra ehru oyt ube cafru oyt on wohsi._

"I show not your face but your heart's desire," Jessica whispered. "Harry, is that the Mirror of Erised?"

"What was that?" said Quirrell.

"Nothing, just – er – the inscription on the mirror, that's what it says: 'I show not your face but your heart's desire."

"This mirror is the key to finding the Stone," Quirrell murmured, tapping his way around the frame. "Trust Dumbledore to come up with something like this … but he's in London …I'll be far away by the time he gets back …"

"Jessica saw you and Snape in the forest!" blurted Harry, in an attempt to distract Quirrell from the mirror.

"Yes," said Quirrell idly, walking around the mirror to look at the back. "He was onto me at that time, trying to find out how far I'd got. He suspected me all along. Tried to frighten me – as though he could, when I had Lord Voldemort on my side …"

Quirrell came back out from behind the mirror and stared hungrily into it.

"I see the Stone … I'm presenting it to my master … yes, that is my desire … but where is it?"

Jessica struggled against the ropes binding her, but they didn't give. She_ had _to keep Quirrell from giving his whole attention to the mirror.

"But Snape always seemed to hate me so much!" said Harry.

"Oh, he does," said Quirrell casually, "heavens, yes. He was at Hogwarts with your father, didn't you know? They loathed each other. But he never wanted you _dead_."

"But I heard you a few days ago, sobbing – I thought Snape was threatening you …"

For the first time, a spasm of fear flitted across Quirrell's face.

"Sometimes," he said, "I find it hard to follow my master's instructions – he is a great wizard and I am weak –"

"You mean, he was there in the classroom with you?" Harry gasped.

"He is with me wherever I go," said Quirrell quietly. "I met him when I travelled around the world. A foolish young man I was then, full of ridiculous ideas about good and evil. Lord Voldemort showed me how wrong I was. There is no good and evil, there is only power and those too weak to seek it … Since then, I have served him faithfully, although I have let him down many times. He has been very hard on me." Quirrell shivered suddenly. "He does not forgive mistakes easily. When I failed to steal the Stone from Gringotts, he was most displeased. He punished me … decided he would have to keep a closer watch on me …"

Quirrell's voice trailed away. Jessica's mind was racing, she had to stall Quirrell, draw his attention away from the Mirror of Erised. But how?

Quirrell cursed under his breath.

"I don't understand … is the Stone_ inside _the mirror? Should I break it?"

"No, why would that work? That would eliminate any possibility of using the Mirror to get to the Stone!" said Jessica, hoping to distract him.

"All right, you come look into the mirror if you're such an expert on it," said Quirrell coldly. He clapped his hands and the ropes binding Jessica fell away. She took a few shaky steps towards the mirror and stopped. She was not prepared for what she saw.

It was her family. Her real family. She knew this without thinking. There was a woman who looked exactly like Jessica, but with striking green eyes. Next to her was a man with Jessica's exact hazel eyes, but he looked remarkably like … Harry. Harry was in the mirror too. Smiling next to Jessica. Around them were more people, and Jessica could see her characteristics in some of them: her cheekbones; her hair; even an old woman with Jessica's nose. She looked behind her. No one else had entered the room and Harry was in the corner, struggling against the ropes binding him. She looked back to the Mirror.

"Well? What do you see?" asked Quirrell impatiently.

"My family. That's what I wanted, to know who my family was." She said simply. She lifted her hair and draped it over her left shoulder, fully revealing the lightening bolt scar slightly to the right on her neck. She traced the scar with her finger. Was this the reason they both had a scar? She knew Harry had seen the scar because he gasped.

"Harry, when's your birthday?" asked Jessica nervously.

"July 31st, but why –?"

He never finished his sentence. Jessica ran and hugged him.

"So is mine. Harry, do you know what this means? I saw you in the mirror with the rest of my family – _our _family. We're related, probably even twins!"

"What? I have a sister? But, why didn't the Dursleys say –"

"As sweet as that is, it doesn't matter, you still be dead within the hour. Now, Quirrell use the boy to get the Stone," said a voice.

Jessica looked around, but there was only herself, Harry – her _brother_ – and Quirrell.

"Of course, my Lord. Potter, come here," Said Quirrell, and once again clapped. The ropes binding Harry flew off him and wrapped themselves around Jessica.

"Come here," Quirrell repeated. "Look in the mirror and tell me what you see."

Harry walked towards him. Quirrell moved in behind him as he looked into the mirror. After a few seconds, Jessica saw something fall into his pocket. Somehow, he had gotten the Stone.

"Hurry up," said Quirrell impatiently, "what do you see?"

"I see myself shaking hands with Dumbledore," Harry said quickly. "I – I've won the house cup for Gryffindor." Jessica wasn't sure, but she thought he was lying.

Quirrell cursed again.

"Get out of the way," he said. Harry hadn't walked four paces before a high voice spoke, though Quirrell didn't move his lips.

"He lies … He lies …"

"Potter, come back here!" Quirrell shouted. "Tell me the truth! What did you just see?"

The high voice spoke again.

"Let me speak to him … face to face …"

"Master, you are not strong enough!"

"I have strength enough … for this."

Jessica felt as though her whole body had frozen. She watched as Quirrell reached up and began to unwrap his turban. What was going on? The turban fell away. Quirrell's head looked strangely small without it. Then he turned slowly turned on the spot.

Jessica would have screamed, but she couldn't make a sound. Where there should have been a back to Quirrell's head, there was a face, the most terrible face Jessica had seen. It was chalk-white with glaring red eyes and slits for nostrils, like a snake.

"Harry Potter …" it whispered. "See what I've become? Mere shadow and vapour … I have form only when I share another's body … but there have always been those willing to let me into their hearts and minds … Unicorn blood has strengthened me, these past weeks … you saw faithful Quirrell drinking it for me in the forest … and once I have the Elixir of Life, I will be able to create a body of my own … Now … why don't you give me that Stone in your pocket?"

So he knew. Harry stumbled backwards. He walked into Jessica and they both fell over.

"Don't be a fool," snarled the face. "Better save your own lives and join me … or you'll meet the same end as your parents … they died begging me for mercy …"

"LIAR!" Harry shouted suddenly.

"Quirrell was walking backwards at them, so that Voldemort could still see them. The evil face was now smiling.

"How touching …" it hissed. "I always value bravery … yes, your parents were brave … I killed your father first and he put up a courageous fight … but your mother needn't have died … she was trying to protect you …"

"_Harry_," breathed Jessica. She had managed to free her right hand from the ropes. Her eyes flicked from Harry to the Stone to her hand. He understood. He reached into his pocket and carefully pushed the Stone out. It landed in Jessica's hand and she quickly hid it.

"… Now, give me the Stone, unless you want her to have died in vain,"

"NEVER!" shouted Harry.

"Not you, boy. You don't have it." He turned his gaze to Jessica.

"_How did he know?" _thought Jessica.

"Never mind how I know. Give me the Stone."

"No!"

"Quirrell! Get that Stone!"

Quirrell clapped his hands once again and the ropes binding Jessica dropped away. She scrambled to her feet and went to slip the Stone into her pocket, but Quirrell was quicker. He grabbed Jessica's wrist. At once, a needle-sharp pain seared across her scar. She dropped the Stone. Quirrell pulled his hand away and Jessica was shocked to see that it was blistering before their eyes. Jessica kicked the Stone before Quirrell could reach down and grab it. It skittered across to the other side of the chamber.

In the same second, Harry Jessica and Quirrell dived towards the Stone. They wrestled over it and Jessica felt someone's elbow break her nose and the first trickles of blood began to drip from it.

Harry managed to grab the Stone and he and Jessica sprang towards the flame door, but Voldemort screamed, "SEIZE THEM!"

Quirrell grabbed Harry's wrist and Jessica felt her scar flare with a dull pain again. Harry yelled and shook Quirrell off. Quirrell's hand was now blistered badly.

"Seize him! SEIZE HIM!" shrieked Voldemort again, and Quirrell lunged, knocking Harry clean off his feet, landing on top of him, both hands around Harry's neck. Yet, Quirrell was howling in agony.

"Master, I cannot hold him – my hands – my hands!"

And Quirrell, though pinning Harry to the ground with his knees, let go of his neck and stared, bewildered, at his own palms – Jessica could see they looked burnt, raw, red and shiny. At that moment, Jessica knew: Quirrell couldn't touch her or Harry's bare skin, not without suffering terrible pain.

"Then kill him, fool, and be done!" screeched Voldemort.

Quirrell raised his hand to perform a deadly curse, but Jessica grabbed his hand and pointed his wand away from Harry. Sparks flew out from the wand. They passed inches from Jessica's face. Harry reached up and grabbed Quirrell's face –

"AAAARGH!"

Quirrell rolled off him, his face blistering too. Jessica grabbed one of Quirrell's arms and Harry held the other. They hung on as tight as they could. The pain in Jessica's scar was building – she couldn't see – she could only hear Quirrell's terrible shrieks and Voldemort's yells of "KILL THEM! KILL THEM!" and other voices, maybe in her own head, calling out her name.

She felt Quirrell's arm wrenched from her grasp, knew all was lost, and fell into blackness, down … down … down … 

She was suddenly engulfed in light. She blinked and fuzzy shapes came to focus. She blinked once more and found that she was in the hospital wing. In the bed next to her, Harry was stirring and the table between them was piled high with what looked like half the sweet shop. Standing in next to them, was Albus Dumbledore.

"Good afternoon, you two," he said.

"Sir! The Stone! It was Quirrell! Sir –"

"He's got the Stone! Sir, quick –"

"Calm yourselves, you are a little behind the times," said Dumbledore. "Quirrell does not have the Stone."

"Then who does? Sir I –"

"Harry, please relax, or Madam Pomfrey will have me thrown out."

Harry's eyes wandered around the room and rested on the sweets. Dumbledore noticed.

"Tokens from your friends and admirers," he said, beaming. "What happened down in the dungeons between you and Professor Quirrell is a complete secret, so, naturally, the whole school knows. I believe your friends Misters Fred and George Weasley were responsible for trying to send you a lavatory seat. No doubt they thought it would amuse you. Madam Pomfrey, however, felt it might not be very hygienic and confiscated it."

"How long have we been in here?"

"Three days. Mr Ronald Weasley and Miss Granger will be most relieved you have come around, they have been extremely worried."

"But sir, the Stone –"

"I see you are not to be distracted. Very well, the Stone. Professor Quirrell did not manage to take it from you. I arrived in time to prevent that, although you two were doing very well on your own, I might say."

"You got there? You got Hermione's owl?"

"We must have crossed in mid-air. No sooner had I reached London than it became clear that the place I should be was the one I had just left. I arrived just in time to pull Quirrell off you –"

"It was _you_."

"I feared I might be too late."

"You nearly were, we couldn't have kept him off the Stone much longer –"

"Not the Stone – the effort nearly killed you. For one terrible moment there, I thought it had. As for the Stone, it has been destroyed.

"Destroyed?" said Jessica blankly. "But what about your friend – Nicolas Flamel?"

"Oh, you know about Nicolas?" said Dumbledore, sounding quite delighted. "You _did_ do the thing properly, didn't you? Well, Nicolas and I have had a little chat and agreed it's for the best."

"But that means he and his wife will die, won't they?" said Harry.

"They have enough Elixir stored to set their affairs in order and then, yes, they will die."

Dumbledore smiled at the look of amazement on Harry's face.

"To one as young as you, I'm sure it seems incredible, but to Nicolas and Perenelle, it really is like going to bed after a very, _very_ long day. After all, to the well-organised mind, death is but the next great adventure. You know, the Stone was really not such a wonderful thing. As much money and life as you could want! The two things most human beings would choose most above all – the trouble is, humans do have a knack of choosing precisely those things which are worse for them."

Jessica lay there, lost for words. Dumbledore hummed a little and smiled at the ceiling.

"Sir?" said Harry. "I've been thinking … Sir – even if the Stone's gone, Vol – I mean, You-Know-Who –"

"Call him Voldemort –" Jessica flinched. "–Always use the proper name for things. Fear of a name only increases fear of the thing itself."

"Yes, sir. Well, Voldemort's going to try other ways of coming back, isn't he? I mean, he hasn't gone, has he?"

"No Harry, he has not. He is still out there somewhere, perhaps looking for another body to share … not being truly alive, he cannot be killed. He left Quirrell to die; he shows just as little mercy to his followers as his enemies. Nevertheless, while you may only have delayed his return to power, it will merely take someone else who is prepared to fight what seems a losing battle next time – and if he is delayed again, and again, why, he may never return to power."

Jessica nodded, but stopped quickly, because it made her head hurt.

"Sir, there are some things we'd like to know, if you can tell us … things we want to know the truth about …"

"The truth." Dumbledore sighed. "It is a beautiful and terrible thing, and should therefore be treated with great caution. However, I shall answer your questions unless I have a very good reason not to, in which case I beg you'll forgive me. I shall not, of course, lie."

"Well …Voldemort said that he only killed my mother because she tried to stop him killing me. But why would he want to kill me in the first place?"

Dumbledore sighed very deeply this time.

"Alas, the first thing you ask me, I cannot tell you. Not today. Not now. You will know, one day … put it from your mind now. When you are older … I know you hate to hear this … when you are ready, you will know."

"Why couldn't Quirrell touch us?"

"Well, for you Harry, your mother died to save you. If there is one thing Voldemort cannot understand, it is love. He didn't realise that love as powerful as your mother's for you leaves its own mark. Not a scar, no visible sign … to have been loved so deeply, even though the person who loved us is gone, will give us some protection forever. It is in your very skin. Quirrell, full of hatred, greed and ambition, sharing his soul with Voldemort, could not touch you for this reason. It was agony to touch a person marked by something so good."

Dumbledore sighed again.

"As for why he couldn't touch you, Jessica, it would be the same reason. But there is something I've been suspecting all year … I believe that you are Harry's twin sister, that everyone, even myself believed to be dead."

"I thought so," said Jessica. "When I looked into the Mirror of Erised, I saw my family and Harry was there. We even have the same birthday."

"I thought so. You look incredibly like your mother."

Dumbledore now became very interested in a bird out on the window-sill, which gave Jessica to dry her eyes on the sheet and smile at her twin.

"And the invisibility cloak – do you know who sent it to me?" said Harry

"Ah – your father left it in my possession and I thought you might like it." Dumbledore's eyes twinkled. "Useful things … your father used it mainly for sneaking off to the kitchens to steal food when he was here."

"And there's something else …"

"Fire away."

"Quirrell said Snape –"

"_Professor _Snape, Harry."

"Yes, him – Quirrell said he hates me because he hated my father. Is that true?"

"Well, they did rather detest each other. Not unlike yourself and Mr Malfoy. And then, your father did something Snape could never forgive."

"What?"

"He saved his life."

"_What?_"

"Yes …" said Dumbledore dreamily. "Funny, the way people's minds work, isn't it? Professor Snape couldn't bear being in your father's debt … I do believe he worked so hard to protect you this year because he thought that would make him and your father quits. Then he could go back to hating your father's memory in peace."

Jessica tried to understand this, but it made her head pound, so she stopped.

"And sir, there's one more thing …"

"Just the one?"

"How did I get the Stone out of the Mirror?"

"Ah, now, I'm glad you asked me that. It was one of my more brilliant ideas, and between us, that's saying something. You see, only one who wanted to _find_ the Stone – find it, but not use it – would be able to get it, otherwise they'd just see themselves making gold or drinking the Elixir of Life. My brain surprises even me sometimes … Now, enough questions. I suggest you make a start on these sweets. Ah! Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans! I was unfortunate enough in my youth to come across a vomit-flavoured one, and since then I'm afraid I've rather lost my liking for them – but I think I'll be safe with a nice toffee, don't you?"

He smiled and popped the golden-brown bean into his mouth. Then he choked and said, "Alas! Earwax!"

Madam Pomfrey, the matron, was a nice woman, but very strict.

"Just five minutes," Harry pleaded.

"Absolutely not.'

"You let Professor Dumbledore in …" said Jessica.

"Well, of course, that was the headmaster, quite different. You both need _rest_."

"We are resting, look, lying down and everything. Oh, go on, Madam Pomfrey …"

"Oh, very well," she said. "But five minutes _only_."

And she let Ron and Hermione in.

"_Harry! Jessica!_" Hermione looked ecstatic to see them alive.

"Oh, we were sure you were going to – Dumbledore was so worried –"

"The whole school's talking about it," said Ron. "What _really _happened?"

It was one of those rare occasions when the true story is even more strange and exciting than the wild rumours. Harry and Jessica told them everything: Quirrell; the mirror; the Stone and Voldemort. Ron and Hermione were a good audience; they gasped in all the right places and Jessica said what was under Quirrell's turban, Hermione screamed out loud.

"So the Stone's gone?" said Ron finally. "Flamel's just going to _die_?"

"That's what I said, but Dumbledore thinks that – what was it?"

"To the well-organised mind, death is but the next great adventure." Finished Jessica.

"I always said he was off his rocker," said Ron, looking quite impressed at how mad his hero was.

"That's not all," said Harry. "It turns out Jess and I are related."

"Well, technically most wizard families _are_, but we're much closer. We're twins," said Jessica.

"Really?" gasped Hermione.

"Yeah. It's weird isn't it?"

"Yes, but happened with you two?"

"Well, I got back all right," said Hermione. "I brought Ron around – that took a while – and we were dashing up to the owlery to contact Dumbledore when we met him in the entrance hall. He already knew – he just said 'Harry's gone after him, hasn't he?' and hurtled off to the third floor.

"D'you think he wanted you to do it?" said Ron. "Sending you your father's cloak and everything?"

"_Well_," Hermione exploded, "if he did – I mean to say – that's terrible – you could have been killed."

"No, it isn't," said Harry thoughtfully. "He's a funny man, Dumbledore. I think he sort of wanted to give me a chance. I think he knows more or less what goes on around here, you know. I reckon he had a pretty good idea we were going to try, and instead of stopping us, he just taught us enough to help. I don't think it was an accident he let me find out how the mirror worked. It's almost like he thought I had the right to face Voldemort if I could …"

"Yeah, Dumbledore's barking, all right," said Ron proudly. "Listen, you've got to be up for the end-of-year feast tomorrow. The points are in and Slytherin won, of course – you both missed the last Quidditch match, we were steamrolled by Ravenclaw without you – but the food'll be good."

At that moment, Madam Pomfrey bustled over.

"You've had nearly fifteen minutes, now OUT," she said firmly.

After a good night's sleep and some chocolate (Remus said chocolate could practically cure anything) Jessica felt almost back to normal.

"I want to go to the feast," she and Harry told Madam Pomfrey as she straightened their sweet boxes. "We can, can't we?"

"Professor Dumbledore says you are allowed to go," she said sniffily, as though in her opinion Professor Dumbledore didn't realise how risky feast could be. "And you have another visitor."

"Oh good," said Harry. "Who is it?'

Hagrid sidled through the door as he spoke. As usual when he was indoors, Hagrid looked too big to be allowed. He sat down between Harry and Jessica, took one look at them and burst into tears.

"It's – all – my – ruddy – fault!" he sobbed, his face in his hands. "I told the evil git how ter get past Fluffy! I told him! It was the only thing he didn't know an' I told him! Yeh could've died! All fer a dragon egg! I'll never drink again! I should be chucked out an' made ter live as a muggle!"

"Hagrid!" said Jessica, shocked to see Hagrid shaking with grief and remorse, giant tears leaking into his beard. "Hagrid, he'd have found out somehow, this is You-Know-Who we're talking about, he'd have found out even of you hadn't told him."

"Jess is right, Voldemort would've gotten to the tone anyway."

"Yeh could've died!" sobbed Hagrid. "An' don' say the name!"

"VOLDEMORT!" Harry bellowed. Jessica flinched and Hagrid was so shocked, he stopped crying. "I've met him and I'm calling him by his name. Please cheer up, Hagrid, we saved the Stone, it's gone, he can't use it. Have a Chocolate Frog, we've got loads …"

Hagrid wiped his nose on the back of his hand and said, "That reminds me. I've got you two a present."

"It's not a stoat sandwich, is it?" said Harry anxiously and at last Hagrid gave a weak chuckle.

"Nah. Dumbledore gave me the day off yesterday ter fix it. 'Course he shoulda sacked me instead – anyway, I got yeh this …"

It seemed to be a handsome, leather-covered book. Harry opened it. It was full of wizard photographs. Smiling and waving from every page were their parents.

"Sent owls off ter all yer parent's old school friends, askin' fer photos … Knew yeh didn't have any … D'yeh like it?"

Harry didn't say anything, but Hagrid understood.

Harry and Jessica made their way down to the end-of-year feast alone that night. They had been held up by Madam Pomfrey's fussing about, insisting on one last check-up, so the Great Hall was already full. It was decked out in the Slytherin colours of green and silver to celebrate Slytherin's winning the hose cup for the seventh year in a row. A huge banner showing the Slytherin serpent covered the wall behind the High Table.

When Harry and Jessica walked in there was a sudden hush and then everyone started talking loudly at once. They slipped into two seats by Ron and Hermione at the Gryffindor table and tried to ignore the fact that people were standing up to look at them.

Fortunately, Dumbledore arrived moments later. The babble died away.

"Another year gone!" Dumbledore said cheerfully. "And I must trouble you with an old man's wheezing waffle before we sink our teeth into our delicious feast. What a year it has been! Hopefully your heads are a little fuller than they were … you have the whole summer ahead to get them nice and empty before next year starts …

"Now, as I understand it, the house cup here needs awarding and the points stand thus: in fourth place, Gryffindor, with two hundred and sixty-two points; in third, Hufflepuff, with three hundred and fifty-two; Ravenclaw have four hundred and twenty-six; and Slytherin, four hundred and seventy-two."

A storm of cheering and stamping broke out from the Slytherin table.

"Yes, yes, well done, Slytherin," said Dumbledore. "However, recent events must be taken into account."

The room went very still. The Slytherin's smiles faded a little.

"Ahem," said Dumbledore. "I have a few last-minute points to dish out. Let me see. Yes.

"First – to Mr Ronald Weasley …"

Ron went purple I the face; he looked like a radish with bad sunburn.

" … For the best-played game of chess Hogwarts has seen in many years, I award Gryffindor house fifty points."

Gryffindor cheers nearly raised the bewitched ceiling; the stars overhead seemed to quiver. Percy could be heard telling the other prefects, "My brother, you know! My youngest brother! Got past McGonagall's giant chess set!"

At last there was silence again.

"Second – to Miss Hermione Granger … for the use of cool logic in the face of fire, I award Gryffindor house fifty points."

Hermione buried her face in her arms; Jessica strongly suspected she had burst into tears. Gryffindors up and down the table were beside themselves – they were a hundred points up.

"Third – to Miss Jessica Potter," whispers broke out around the hall. "For keeping calm and carrying on, I award Gryffindor house fifty points."

Jessica felt her cheeks turn bright red as more cheers erupted from the Gryffindor table.

"Fourth, to Mr Harry Potter ..." said Dumbledore. The room went deadly quiet. "For pure nerve and outstanding courage ... I award Gryffindor house sixty points."

The din was deafening. Those who could add up while yelling themselves horse knew that Gryffindor now had four hundred and seventy-two points – exactly the same as Slytherin. They had drawn for the house cup – if only Dumbledore had given Harry one more point.

Dumbledore raised his hand. The room gradually fell silent.

"There are all kinds of courage," said Dumbledore, smiling. "It takes a great deal of bravery to stand up to our enemies, but just as much to stand up to our friends. I therefore award ten points to Mr Neville Longbottom."

Someone standing outside the Great Hall might well have thought some sort of explosion had taken place, so loud was the noise that erupted from the Gryffindor table. Harry, Ron, Jessica and Hermione stood up to yell and cheer as Neville, white with shock, disappeared under a pile of people hugging him. He had never so much as won a point for Gryffindor before. Harry, still cheering, nudged Jessica in the ribs and pointed at Malfoy who couldn't have looked more stunned and horrified if he'd just had the Body-Bind curse put on him.

"Which means," Dumbledore called over the storm of applause, for even Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff were celebrating the downfall of Slytherin, "we need a little change of decoration."

He clapped his hands. In an instant, the green hangings became scarlet and the silver became gold; the huge Slytherin serpent vanished and a towering Gryffindor lion took its place. Snape was shaking Professor McGonagall's hand, with a horrible sort of forced smile. It seemed as though life would be back to normal next year, or as normal as it ever was at Hogwarts.

It was the best evening of Jessica's life, better than winning at Quidditch or Christmas or knocking out mountain trolls ... she would never, ever forget tonight.

Jessica had almost forgotten that the exam results were still to come, but come they did. To their great surprise, both Harry and Ron had passed with good marks; Hermione and Jessica, of course, came top of the year. Even Neville scraped through, his good Herbology mark making up for his abysmal Potions one. They had hoped that Goyle, who was as stupid as he was mean, might be thrown out, but he had passed, too. It was a shame, but as Ron said, you couldn't have everything in life.

And suddenly, their wardrobes were empty, their trunks were packed, Neville's toad was found lurking in a corner of the toilets; notes were handed out to all students, warning them not to use magic over the holidays ("I always hope they'll forget to give us these," said Fred Weasley sadly) ; Hagrid was there to lead them down to the fleet of boats that sailed across the lake; they were boarding the Hogwarts Express; talking and laughing as the countryside became greener and tidier; eating Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans as they sped past muggle towns; pulling off their wizard robes and putting on jackets and coats; pulling into platform nine and three quarters at King's Cross Station.

It took quite a while for them all to get off the platform. A wizened old guard was up by the ticket barrier letting them go through the gate in threes and fours so they didn't attract attention by all bursting out of a solid wall at once and alarming the muggles.

"You must come and stay this summer," said Ron, "all three of you – I'll send an owl."

"Thanks," said Harry. "I'll need something to look forward to."

People jostled them as they moved forwards towards the gateway back to the muggle world. Some of them called"

"Bye, Harry!"

"Later, Jessica!"

"See you, Potter!"

"Still famous," said Ron, grinning at them.

"Not where I'm going, I promise you," said Harry.

The four of them passed through the gateway together.

"There he is. Mum, there he is, look!"

It was Ginny Weasley, Ron's younger sister, but she wasn't pointing at Ron.

"Harry Potter!" she squealed. "Look, Mum! I can see –"

"Be quiet, Ginny, and it's rude to point."

Mrs Weasley smiled down at them.

"Busy year?" she said.

"Very," said Harry. "Thanks for the Christmas gifts, Mrs Weasley."

"Oh, it was nothing, dear."

Ready, are you?"

It was a large, purple-faced, moustached man looking furiously at Harry. Standing behind him was a very fat boy and a woman looking at Jessica with a quizzical expression.

"You must be Harry's family!" said Mrs Weasley.

"In a manner of speaking," said the man. "Hurry up, boy, we haven't got all day." He turned to walk away.

"Wait, this is Jessica, she's my twin sister – your niece. Jess, this is Uncle Vernon, Aunt Petunia and Dudley." Said Harry quickly.

"Pleasure to meet you," said Jessica, although they seemed like horrid people. "It's nice to –"

"I'm not taking in any more of your lot!" growled Uncle Vernon.

"No, you don't have to, I was adopted, and I live with them."

"Good." He said gruffly and walked away.

Harry hung back for one last word with Ron, Jessica and Hermione.

"See you over the summer, then."

"Hope you have – er – a nice holiday, looking uncertainly after Uncle Vernon, shocked that anyone could be so unpleasant.

"Oh I will," said Harry, and they were surprised by the grin spreading over his face. "_They_ don't know we're not allowed to use magic at home. I'm going to have a lot of fun with Dudley over the summer ..."

"Well don't do anything too stupid, will you? Bye, Harry!" said Jessica. As he walked away, she scanned the crowd for Remus, and spotted him standing by platform nine. He smiled and waved, having no idea of the summer-long interrogation Jessica was about to submit him to ...


	18. The Chamber of Secrets has Been Opened!

**Hello everybody! **

**As you may or may not know, the Chamber of Secrets has been opened! Yup, I've uploaded the first two chapters of Harry and Jessica's second year at Hogwarts. You can find it on my profile. **

**Enjoy!**


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